Aggressive behavior of epilepsy patients in the course of levetiracetam add-on therapy: report of 33 mild to severe cases

Levetiracetam (LEV) was shown to be very efficacious and well tolerated as add-on therapy for refractory epilepsy. Here we report 33 patients with longstanding histories of epilepsy who experienced aggressive episodes during LEV therapy. This corresponds to 3.5% of LEV-treated patients as compared with less than 1% of patients not on LEV. Among these cases, 24 showed only moderate, partly transient irritability, with 10 patients requiring reduction or discontinuation of LEV. More strikingly, 9 patients displayed severe symptoms of aggression with physical violence and, in 2 cases, the need for psychiatric emergency treatment. One patient developed additional psychotic symptoms. We suggest that, specifically in patients with a previous history of aggression, behavioral tolerability of LEV should be carefully monitored. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.