Recent data on the safety of levetiracetam treatment in pregnant women with epilepsy Review article
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Recent evidence strongly suggests that levetiracetam may be considered as a safe drug for the treatment of epilepsy in pregnancy. Especially when it is used alone, does not have an obvious teratogenic effects and does not interfere with the cognitive development of their children evaluated during the first 2–3 years of life. This effect was not clearly related to the total dose of the drug and it seems that the recommended dosage range tailored to individual patients and their sensitivity to specific epilepsy syndrome is equally safe. The effects of the polytherapy involving levetiracetam, particularly in combination with carbamazepine and valproic acid, are less clear and require further study and observation.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright: © Medical Education sp. z o.o. License allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
Address reprint requests to: Medical Education, Marcin Kuźma (marcin.kuzma@mededu.pl)
References
2. Meador KJ, Baker GA, Browning N et al. NEAD Study Group. Cognitive function at 3 years of age after fetal exposure to antiepileptic drugs. N Engl J Med 2009; 360(16): 1597-1605.
3. Shallcross R, Bromley RL, Irwin B et al. Liverpool Manchester Neurodevelopment Group; UK Epilepsy and Pregnancy Register. Child development following in utero exposure: levetiracetam vs sodium valproate. Neurology 2011; 76(4): 383-389.