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Levetiracetam Appears Effective in Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy: Presented at AES

By Howard Fenton

WASHINGTON, DC -- December 8, 2005 -- In a retrospective study, 26 of 30 children suffering from juvenile myoclonic epilepsy were either seizure-free or achieved a 50% reduction in seizures by taking the anti-epileptic agent levetiracetam (Keppra).

"Levetiracetam appears useful as a first-line agent in the treatment of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy," said Deron Sharpe, MD, Pediatric Neurologist, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States.

Dr. Sharpe and colleagues analysed the records of 11 patients diagnosed with certain juvenile myoclonic epilepsy and 19 with probably juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Sixteen of the patients were not on any appropriate anti-epileptic therapy; 10 were taking valproate and four were on other medications.

In a poster presentation at the annual joint meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES) and the American Clinical Neurophysiology society, Dr. Sharpe said that in the follow-up period of about 1 to 3 years, 24 of the patients or 80% of the total were seizure free; two other patients had their seizures reduced by 50% or more, giving a total of an 86.7% response rate to the drug.

The 10 patients whose seizures were controlled with valproate were successfully weaned from that drug and onto levetiracetam.

One patient discontinued levetiracetam because of mood alterations after being free of seizures for 14 months. Mild mood fluctuations occurred in a second patient who stayed on treatment with levetiracetam and remains seizure free. There were no other adverse events, Dr. Sharpe said in his presentation December 5^th.

"The favorable results in this retrospective study should be confirmed in larger, prospective trials of patients with newly diagnosed juvenile myoclonic epilepsy," he said.

The trial was partially funded by UCB Pharma, Inc., which markets Keppra.


[Presentation title: Use of Levetiracetam in Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy. Abstract 2.333]

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