Quality of life and seizure control in patients with brain tumor-related epilepsy treated with levetiracetam monotherapy: preliminary data of an open-label study

The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effects of levetiracetam monotherapy on seizure control, quality of life and neurocognitive performance in patients with brain tumor-related epilepsy. We present here preliminary data from 18 patients with follow-up of 6 months. We evaluated seizure...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neurological sciences 2009-08, Vol.30 (4), p.353-359
Main Authors: Dinapoli, Loredana, Maschio, Marta, Jandolo, Bruno, Fabi, Alessandra, Pace, Andrea, Sperati, Francesca, Muti, Paola
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of Daily Living
Adult
Aged
Anticonvulsants - adverse effects
Anticonvulsants - therapeutic use
Blood Cell Count
Brain Neoplasms - complications
Brain Neoplasms - therapy
Brief Communication
Combined Modality Therapy
Convulsions & seizures
Epilepsy - drug therapy
Epilepsy - etiology
Female
Humans
Karnofsky Performance Status
Logistic Models
Male
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Neurology
Neuropsychological Tests
Neuroradiology
Neurosciences
Neurosurgery
Personal Autonomy
Piracetam - adverse effects
Piracetam - analogs & derivatives
Piracetam - therapeutic use
Psychiatry
Quality of Life
Seizures - drug therapy
Seizures - etiology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Young Adult
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Summary:The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effects of levetiracetam monotherapy on seizure control, quality of life and neurocognitive performance in patients with brain tumor-related epilepsy. We present here preliminary data from 18 patients with follow-up of 6 months. We evaluated seizure frequency at baseline. We used administered Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), Barthel index (BI), QOLIE 31P (V2), EORTC QLQ-C30 and Adverse Events Profile. After 6 months, 16 patients were seizure free (88.9%), 2 (11.1%) had reduction in seizure frequency >50%. Compared to baseline, we observed a worsening of performance (KPS p  = 0.011; BI = 0.008) and global lower cognitive performance (MMSE p  = 0.011); distress related to seizure frequency ( p  = 0.003) and medication effects ( p  = 0.046) were significantly lower. Levetiracetam caused mild and reversible side effects. These preliminary data on LEV monotherapy in patients with brain tumor-related epilepsy show that this antiepileptic drug is efficacious and well tolerated.
ISSN:1590-1874
1590-3478
DOI:10.1007/s10072-009-0087-x