Herein we report a rare case of acute liver failure due to levetiracetam, which has been considered to have an excellent safety profile with minimal hepatic side effects.  A 55-year-old male patient presenting with sudden onset dizziness, slurring of speech and headache was operated for posterior fossa cerebellar hematoma. His post-surgical period was complicated by development of icterus with elevation of liver enzymes. After ruling out common inciting factors, it was decided to stop levetiracetam which was given prophylactically for preventing seizures owing to presence of external ventricular drain. From the next day patient had dramatic improvement in liver functions and sensorium.  We would like to highlight this side effect that is potentially life threatening, though rare, of levetiracetam, which is very commonly used in today's practice and fast superseding all other time-tested antiepileptics.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6446496PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.18198.1DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

acute liver
8
liver failure
8
case report
4
levetiracetam
4
report levetiracetam
4
levetiracetam causing
4
causing acute
4
liver
4
failure complicating
4
complicating post-operative
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!