Epilepsy & behavior : E&B
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Epilepsy & behavior : E&B · Mar 2007
Levetiracetam in clinical practice: long-term experience in patients with refractory epilepsy referred to a tertiary epilepsy center.
For the treatment of patients with chronic refractory epilepsies, development of new antiepileptic drugs is crucial. Three regulatory trials have demonstrated that add-on levetiracetam is efficacious in patients with localization-related epilepsy. However, results from these highly controlled short-term clinical trials cannot simply be extrapolated to everyday clinical practice. Therefore, more information is needed about the long-term profile of a new antiepileptic drug in clinical practice. ⋯ Levetiracetam is a new antiepileptic drug that appears to be a useful add-on treatment in patients with refractory epilepsy. Its side effect profile is mild, with mood disorders being the most dominant adverse event.
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Epilepsy & behavior : E&B · Mar 2007
Case ReportsFluctuating Kluver-Bucy syndrome in a child with epilepsy due to bilateral anterior temporal congenital malformations.
An 11-year-old boy with epilepsy due to congenital bilateral anterior temporal lobe malformations presented with fluctuating Kluver-Bucy syndrome (KBS). Since the age of 2, he had experienced clusters of three or four daily complex partial seizures over 2-3 days in a month, followed by a seizure-free interval of 3-4 weeks. During the seizure-free period, the patient exhibited hyperorality, sniffing, irritability alternating with placidity, anxiety, unsolicited sexual gestures, and unusual calmness after eating. ⋯ This is the first reported case of KBS due to congenital bitemporal malformations. Also, KBS behavior phenotype in this patient fluctuated, with escalation during the seizure-free period and remission induced by the monthly seizure cluster. This fluctuating pattern could represent forced normalization.