Abstract

ASSESSMENT OF CLINICAL EFFICACY AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT OF LEVETIRACETAM IN STROKE PATIENTS

*S. Anandkumar, Juliya G. John, S. Harini and Grace N. Raju

Abstract

Aim: The study aimed to determine the clinical efficacy of Levetiracetam in preventing the occurrence of seizure and to assess its neuropsychological effect in stroke patients. Methods: The prospective observational comparative study was conducted in tertiary care teaching hospital. Clinical efficacy of Levetiracetam was assessed by comparing the occurrence of late onset post stroke seizure in group of patients on Levetiracetam treatment (500 mg BD) with group of patient without Levetiracetam treatment. The neuropsychological effect of the drug was assessed by Modified Mini-Mental State Examination. Results: Patients not on Levetiracetam treatment reported 16% occurrence of post stroke seizure, while 97% patients on Levetiracetam remained seizure free at the daily dose of 500 mg BD and 1 patient was responsive to dose of 1500mg/day. There was an increased percentage (57.1%) of patients on Levetiracetam treatment with significant cognition after 3 months. The final follow up, mean 3MS score for patients on Levetiracetam was 25.8 ± 2.06 and patient not on Levetiracetam was 16.04 ± 2.57. Conclusion: The present comparative study suggested that the antiepileptic drug, LEV had significant effect on preventing the post stroke seizure. The improvement in the cognitive status of LEV group by the third month revealed the neuropsychological effect of the drug. As per the study result, LEV monotherapy was the better treatment option for preventing post stroke seizure and improving cognitive status.

Keywords: Levetiracetam, Post stroke seizure, Neuropsychological effect, Cognition.