Clinical, Cognitive, and Neurophysiologic Correlates of Short-Term Treatment with Carbamazepine, Oxcarbazepine, and Levetiracetam in Healthy Volunteers

Mecarelli, Oriano; Vicenzini, Edoardo; Pulitano, Patrizia; Vanacore, Nicola; Romolo, Francesco Saverio; Piero, Vittorio Di; Lenzi, Gian Luigi; Accornero, N.

doi:10.1345/aph.1e136

Cited by 83 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…First, frontal lobe functions including psychomotor speed, attention, mental flexibility, verbal fluency, and executive function improved across the LEV monotherapy. Previous studies reported similar results on frontal lobe function [6,12,18]. Second, there was noticeable improvement on several categories of memory function including both visual and verbal domains.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…We included only drug-naïve epilepsy patients who were not exposed to any AEDs. In previous studies, LEV as an adjunctive treatment may reduce seizure frequency and improve cognitive function [12,15,17]. In those add-on studies, it was difficult to estimate the pure effect of LEV on cognition due to the concomitant use of other AED.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, there was noticeable improvement on several categories of memory function including both visual and verbal domains. In a previous report [12], language function was shown to be improved by LEV. However, our present study did not show any meaningful improvement in language function.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Effects of Levetiracetam Monotherapy on the Cognitive Function of Epilepsy Patients

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aims: To estimate the effect of levetiracetam (LEV) on cognitive function and mood status in newly diagnosed epilepsy patients. Methods: Fifty-five drug-naïve epilepsy patients (M:F ratio = 31:24; mean age = 30.9 years) were included. All patients underwent two neuropsychological (NP) tests, one before receiving LEV and then another 12.9 ± 5.0 months after starting LEV monotherapy. We evaluated general cognitive function, verbal/visual attention and memory, linguistic and visuospatial functions, frontal lobe function, and mood status. Repeated-measures regression and generalized estimating equation models were applied to assess the effects of all the confounding variables such as seizure control, average LEV dose, duration of epilepsy, inter-test interval, and subtype of epilepsy syndrome. Results: LEV monotherapy over 1 year revealed significant improvements in the following domains of NP tests with the correction of possible confounding variables: verbal and visual attention, psychomotor speed, mental flexibility, executive function, verbal fluency and word generation. No NP domains showed any significant decrease. Conclusion: Our study suggested that LEV monotherapy had no harmful effect on cognitive function in drug-naïve patients with epilepsy.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Effects of Levetiracetam Monotherapy on the Cognitive Function of Epilepsy Patients

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…70 One other study that compared the clinical cognitive, neurophysiologic effects of carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine and levetiracetam in healthy volunteers found that levetiracetam was the most favorable of the 3 for causing the least amount of deficiencies. 71 Paradoxical increases in seizure activity have been reported. 12,[72][73][74] These are believed to occur at higher doses of levetiracetam and in patients with preexisting mental disabilities.…”

Section: Safety Tolerability and Adverse Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmacotherapy of Epilepsy: Focus on Levetiracetam

Adams

Chung

Eiland

2009

Clinical Medicine. Therapeutics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Levetiracetam is a second-generation antiepileptic drug which first came to the United States market in 1999. It has a mechanism of action that is not well elucidated. However, it is a very favorable antiepileptic drug due to its reliable pharmacokinetics, minimal drug interactions, seizure efficacy and good tolerability. It is an agent that has established efficacy as an adjunct therapy agent for partial and refractory seizures. As a monotherapy agent, levetiracetam also appears to be an attractive agent with observed efficacy and tolerability. Since levetiracetam has recently become available intravenously, it is also being reviewed as an agent for acute status epilepticus. In pediatrics, levetiracetam is widely used with efficacy seen in small clinical trials for a variety of seizure types. Levetiracetam is well tolerated: the most common adverse effect being somnolence and behavioral effects. Overall, levetiracetam is a notable antiepileptic drug that has added significantly to the current antiepileptic armamentarium.

show abstract

“…On the other hand, anticonvulsants can impair cognitive function in healthy volunteers and in patients with brain impairments [74,119]. The negative effects of these drugs in children may persist even after drug withdrawal [69], and babies born to mothers exposed to antiepileptic drugs are at increased risk for major congenital malformations, cognitive impairment and fetal death [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prophylactic antibiotics and anticonvulsants in neurosurgery

Ratilal

Sampaio

2011

Advances and Technical Standards in Neurosurgery

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The prophylactic administration of antibiotics to prevent infection and the prophylactic administration of anticonvulsants to prevent first seizure episodes are common practice in neurosurgery. If prophylactic medication therapy is not indicated, the patient not only incurs the discomfort and the inconvenience resulting from drug treatment but is also unnecessarily exposed to adverse drug reactions, and incurs extra costs. The main situations in which prophylactic anticonvulsants and antibiotics are used are described and those situations we found controversial in the literature and lack further investigation are identified: anticonvulsants for preventing seizures in patients with chronic subdural hematomas, antiepileptic drugs for preventing seizures in those suffering from brain tumors, antibiotic prophylaxis for preventing meningitis in patients with basilar skull fractures, and antibiotic prophylaxis for the surgical introduction of intracranial ventricular shunts.In the following we present systematic reviews of the literature in accordance with the standard protocol of The Cochrane Collaboration to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of these prophylactic medications in the situations mentioned. Our goal was to efficiently integrate valid information and provide a basis for rational decision-making.

show abstract

Clinical, Cognitive, and Neurophysiologic Correlates of Short-Term Treatment with Carbamazepine, Oxcarbazepine, and Levetiracetam in Healthy Volunteers

Abstract: After short-term treatment in healthy volunteers, carbamazepine induced major clinical and neurophysiologic changes. Oxcarbazepine was better tolerated than carbamazepine. Levetiracetam interfered least with clinical and neurophysiologic test results.

Cited by 83 publications

References 22 publications

Effects of Levetiracetam Monotherapy on the Cognitive Function of Epilepsy Patients

Effects of Levetiracetam Monotherapy on the Cognitive Function of Epilepsy Patients

Pharmacotherapy of Epilepsy: Focus on Levetiracetam

Prophylactic antibiotics and anticonvulsants in neurosurgery

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About