• M Doumbia-Ouattara, E Bourel-Ponchel, A-G Le Moing, L Querne, A Delignières, A de Broca, and P Berquin.
• Service de neuropédiatrie, université de Picardie-Jules-Verne, hôpital Nord, CHU d'Amiens, place Victor-Pauchet, 80054 Amiens cedex 1, France. doumbia_medic@yahoo.fr
• Arch Pediatr. 2012 Jan 1; 19 (1): 3-8.

IntroductionIn young children presenting drug-resistant epilepsy, the number of approved antiepileptic drugs is limited. Levetiracetam (LEV) is one of the most recent antiepileptic drugs (AED) introduced on the market and data on its effectiveness and tolerance in children are scarce.Patients And MethodsThe objective of this retrospective study was to report our experience with the use of levetiracetam as an adjuvant therapy in a population of 42 children presenting a drug-resistant epilepsy. The study was conducted over a 5-year-period (from 1 January 2004 to 30 June 2007).ResultsThe patients' mean age was 10.8 years (range, 2.1-19 years). The mean duration of epilepsy was 6.6 years (range, 1.5-19 years). After the administration of LEV, 10 patients (23.8%) became seizure-free and 16 (38.1%) had more than 50% seizure reduction. A reduction of less than 50% was observed in 13 patients (31%). Three patients (7.1%) presented an increase in seizure frequency. The effectiveness of LEV was similar in partial and generalized epilepsy. LEV was well tolerated by these patients. The main adverse effects were anorexia, asthenia, and behavioral disorders, and drowsiness was encountered in 17% of the patients. All persistent adverse events were noted. In children under 4 years of age, LEV was particularly well tolerated.ConclusionThis study confirms the effectiveness and tolerance of LEV used as an adjuvant therapy in children presenting drug-resistant epilepsy, particularly in the very young ones.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

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