01005-A: A Pilot Study of Intravenous Levetiracetam for Emergency Treatment of Seizures in Dogs
Grant Status: Closed
Project Summary
Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder in dogs and about 20-30% of dogs do not respond to standard treatments. Of these "refractory" cases many end up needing emergency treatment of repeated or long lasting seizures. Levetiracetam (LEV) is an anti-epileptic drug that is approved for oral use in people and has been used in the oral form in epileptic dogs with some success. In 2006 an intravenous (IV) formulation was approved for people. We have tested the IV formulation in normal dogs for which it was well tolerated both IV and for intra-muscular injections. In this study we are tested whether one IV injection of LEV improved the emergency treatment of seizures in dog patients in our intensive care unit. All dogs received our standard treatment for the emergency treatment of seizures with one-half of the enrolled dogs receiving one IV dose of LEV, and one-half of the enrolled dogs receiving an equivalent dose of a sterile IV solution as a comparison group. As a final report, we had 19 dogs successfully complete the study. We have just unmasked the results and are in the process of fully analyzing the results to see if the dogs receiving LEV had a significant improvement in their response to the overall treatment protocol. The initial results look promising for the safety and effectiveness of IV levetiracetem for the emergency treatment of seizures in dogs. We have submitted a scientific abstract and presentation proposal to present these results within the next year at 2 major meetings, and will be submitting a manuscript detailing these results to a major veterinary journal within the next 4 months. Once the detailed scientific results are published as proceedings of the meetings and/or in a veterinary journal, full and specific details will be available. This will likely be the first randomized clinical trial for the emergency treatment of seizures in dogs to be published.
Publication(s)
Hardy, B. T., Patterson, E. E., Cloyd, J. M., Hardy, R. M., & Leppik, I. E. (2012). Double-Masked, Placebo-Controlled Study of Intravenous Levetiracetam for the Treatment of Status Epilepticus and Acute Repetitive Seizures in Dogs. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 26(2), 334–340. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-1676.2011.00868.x
Leppik, I. E., Patterson, E., Hardy, B., & Cloyd, J. C. (2009). Canine status epilepticus: Proof of principle studies. Epilepsia, 50, 14–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1528-1167.2009.02362.x
Muñana, K. R., Zhang, D., & Patterson, E. E. (2010). Placebo Effect in Canine Epilepsy Trials. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 24(1), 166–170. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-1676.2009.0407.x
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Participate in canine health research by providing samples or by enrolling in a clinical trial. Samples are needed from healthy dogs and dogs affected by specific diseases.
