Levetiracetam monotherapy for elderly patients with epilepsy

We retrospectively identified 14 elderly patients with a history of partial seizures who received levetiracetam (LEV) monotherapy. Patients began LEV either as first line therapy (n = 5) or were converted to LEV monotherapy (n = 9) after failing prior antiepileptic medications (AEDs). Thirteen patients continued on LEV monotherapy for at least 6 months. One patient was lost to follow-up. Eight patients (61.5%) became seizure free. Four patients who began LEV as a first line therapy became seizure free, whereas the remaining four patients who converted to LEV after they failed their previous AEDs became seizure free. Four patients (30.7%) had more than a 50% seizure reduction of seizures. Only one patient had no significant change in seizure frequency after started on LEV. The total dosages used to control seizures were 500-3000 mg/day, (mean 1839.2 mg/day). LEV monotherapy can be effective and well tolerated in this group of patients. A prospective, larger, double blind monotherapy study is needed to confirm this finding. (C) 2003 BEA Trading Ltd. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.