Abstract
Intractable epilepsy in children poses a serious medical challenge. Acute repetitive seizures and status epilepticus leads to frequent emergency room visits and hospital admissions. Delay of treatment may lead to resistance to the first-line anticonvulsant therapies. It has been shown that these children continue to remain intractable even after acute seizure management with approved Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agents. Intravenous levetiracetam, a second-generation anticonvulsant was approved by the FDA in 2006 in patients 16 years and older as an alternative when oral treatment is not an option. Data have been published showing that intravenous levetiracetam is safe and efficacious, and can be used in an acute inpatient setting. This current review will discuss the recent data about the safety and tolerability of intravenous levetiracetam in children and neonates, and emphasize the need for a larger prospective multicenter trial to prove the efficacy of this agent in acute seizure management.
Highlights
Efficacy and tolerability of intravenous levetiracetam in childrenJose Aceves1*, Owais Khan, Diana Mungall 3, Ekokobe Fonkem, Chanin Wright 5, Andrea Wenner 6 and Batool Kirmani 7
The pediatric epilepsy population is frequently admitted to the hospital because of status epilepticus or acute repetitive seizures
Ramantani et al concluded that the results indicated the safety and efficacy of LEV treatment in neonatal seizures [25]
Summary
Jose Aceves1*, Owais Khan, Diana Mungall 3, Ekokobe Fonkem, Chanin Wright 5, Andrea Wenner 6 and Batool Kirmani 7. It has been shown that these children continue to remain intractable even after acute seizure management with approved Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agents. Intravenous levetiracetam, a second-generation anticonvulsant was approved by the FDA in 2006 in patients 16 years and older as an alternative when oral treatment is not an option. Data have been published showing that intravenous levetiracetam is safe and efficacious, and can be used in an acute inpatient setting. This current review will discuss the recent data about the safety and tolerability of intravenous levetiracetam in children and neonates, and emphasize the need for a larger prospective multicenter trial to prove the efficacy of this agent in acute seizure management
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