Levetiracetam: The Anti-Convulsant of Choice for Elderly Patients With Dementia
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2008-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Elderly persons with dementia are at risk for seizures, however, traditional anticonvulsants
are poorly tolerated in this population. Our goal is to examine Levetiracetam (Keppra) in
elderly dementia patients with seizures. While it has been established that Keppra controls
seizures in this age group, it is important to demonstrate that treatment with Keppra would
not affect cognitive abilities in this large population of patients . As this population is
already cognitively impaired, the best choice of anticonvulsant would be one that does not
further compromise their cognitive abilities. Keppra is an excellent anticonvulsant agent in
the elderly for a variety of reasons, including safety, favorable side effect profile, lack
of interaction with other drugs, and efficacy. Our retrospective pilot data suggests that
cognition is not negatively affected by Keppra. The current prospective study will assess the
cognitive abilities of persons with cognitive impairment at baseline and at weeks 4 and 12.
The overall objective is to determine the cognitive tolerability of Keppra for seizures in
elderly cognitively impaired patients.