Antimyoclonic effect of levetiracetam

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Abstract
Treatment of severe, incapacitating action myoclonus is difficult. Piracetam has been shown to be a very potent antimyoclonic agent, but only at very high, impractical doses, ranging from 24 to 40 g/d. Levetiracetam (LEV), a new antiepileptic drug, is a structurally related compound that has a distinct pharmacological profile and appears to be efficient at much lower doses. We gave LEV, 4,000 mg/d, without titration, to three volunteers with post‐anoxic myoclonus (PAM) (one case) and Unverricht‐Lundborg disease (two cases), over 2, 2 and 10 weeks, respectively. LEV produced a clear abatement of myoclonus, which is demonstrated on video for the patient with post‐anoxic myoclonus, without any unwanted side‐effects. These preliminary findings suggest that LEV may have interesting antimyoclonic properties that deserve further investigation.