Glauser TA et al. (2006) Double-blind placebo-controlled trial of adjunctive levetiracetam in pediatric partial seizures. Neurology 66: 1654–1660

Partial seizures are the most common seizure type in children. New antiepileptic drugs are needed because current treatments are often inadequate, or have intolerable adverse effects. Levetiracetam has shown efficacy and favorable tolerability as an adjunctive therapy in adults with treatment-resistant partial seizures, and Glauser et al. have now tested its usefulness in pediatric patients.

This randomized, placebo-controlled trial enrolled children (aged 4–16 years) with treatment-resistant partial seizures. In total, 101 patients included in the analysis were treated with levetiracetam and 97 were treated with placebo; baseline demographics were similar between the two groups.

Treatment with levetiracetam resulted in a significant reduction over placebo (−26.8%) in weekly partial-onset seizure frequency (P = 0.0002). During the treatment period, the median change in seizure frequency from baseline was −1.6 seizures/week in the levetiracetam group and −0.7 seizures/week in the placebo group (P = 0.003). Overall, a ≥50% reduction from baseline in weekly partial seizure frequency was experienced by 44.6% of levetiracetam-treated patients compared with only 19.6% of placebo patients. Seven levetiracetam-treated patients (6.9%) and one placebo patient (1.0%) remained seizure-free during treatment. Levetiracetam treatment was generally well tolerated, and showed a similar pattern of treatment-emergent adverse events to placebo.

The authors conclude that levetiracetam might offer clinicians an additional option for managing children with epilepsy.