{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,9]],"date-time":"2026-04-09T13:46:18Z","timestamp":1775742378056,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)","issue":"6","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["javma"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2008,3,15]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>Objective<\/jats:bold>\u2014To assess pharmacokinetics, efficacy, and tolerability of oral levetiracetam administered as an adjunct to phenobarbital treatment in cats with poorly controlled suspected idiopathic epilepsy.<\/jats:p>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>Design<\/jats:bold>\u2014Open-label, noncomparative clinical trial.<\/jats:p>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>Animals<\/jats:bold>\u201412 cats suspected to have idiopathic epilepsy that was poorly controlled with phenobarbital or that had unacceptable adverse effects when treated with phenobarbital.<\/jats:p>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>Procedures<\/jats:bold>\u2014Cats were treated with levetiracetam (20 mg\/kg [9.1 mg\/lb], PO, q 8 h). After a minimum of 1 week of treatment, serum levetiracetam concentrations were measured before and 2, 4, and 6 hours after drug administration, and maximum and minimum serum concentrations and elimination half-life were calculated. Seizure frequencies before and after initiation of levetiracetam treatment were compared, and adverse effects were recorded.<\/jats:p>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>Results<\/jats:bold>\u2014Median maximum serum levetiracetam concentration was 25.5 \u03bcg\/mL, median minimum serum levetiracetam concentration was 8.3 \u03bcg\/mL, and median elimination half-life was 2.9 hours. Median seizure frequency prior to treatment with levetiracetam (2.1 seizures\/mo) was significantly higher than median seizure frequency after initiation of levetiracetam treatment (0.42 seizures\/mo), and 7 of 10 cats were classified as having responded to levetiracetam treatment (ie, reduction in seizure frequency of \u2265 50%). Two cats had transient lethargy and inappetence.<\/jats:p>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusions and Clinical Relevance<\/jats:bold>\u2014Results suggested that levetiracetam is well tolerated in cats and may be useful as an adjunct to phenobarbital treatment in cats with idiopathic epilepsy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.2460\/javma.232.6.867","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2008,3,15]],"date-time":"2008-03-15T13:36:05Z","timestamp":1205588165000},"page":"867-872","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":41,"title":["Levetiracetam as an adjunct to phenobarbital treatment in cats with suspected idiopathic epilepsy"],"prefix":"10.2460","volume":"232","author":[{"given":"Kerry Smith","family":"Bailey","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Curtis W.","family":"Dewey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dawn M.","family":"Boothe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Georgina","family":"Barone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gregg D.","family":"Kortz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1272","reference":[{"key":"ref1","series-title":"A practical guide to canine and feline neurology","first-page":"193","article-title":"Seizures and narcolepsy","author":"Thomas","year":"2003"},{"key":"ref2","series-title":"Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract","first-page":"1107","article-title":"Anticonvulsant therapy in dogs and cats","volume":"36","author":"Dewey","year":"2006"},{"key":"ref3","series-title":"Can J Vet Res","first-page":"309","article-title":"Pharmacokinetics of phenobarbital in the cat following multiple oral administration","volume":"54","author":"Cochrane","year":"1990"},{"key":"ref4","series-title":"J Am Vet Med Assoc","first-page":"1060","article-title":"Hepatotoxicity of phenobarbital in dogs: 18 cases (1985\u20131989)","volume":"199","author":"Dayrell-Hart","year":"1991"},{"key":"ref5","series-title":"Vet Pathol","first-page":"147","article-title":"Liver histopathology and liver and serum alanine aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase activities in epileptic dogs receiving phenobarbital","volume":"42","author":"Gaskill","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref6","series-title":"J Feline Med Surg","first-page":"123","article-title":"Suspected hypersensitivity to phenobarbital in a cat","volume":"1","author":"Ducote","year":"1999"},{"key":"ref7","series-title":"J Am Vet Med Assoc","first-page":"72","article-title":"Clinical management and outcome of cats with seizure disorders: 30 cases (1991\u20131993)","volume":"210","author":"Quesnel","year":"1997"},{"key":"ref8","series-title":"Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract","first-page":"411","article-title":"Anticonvulsant therapy in small animals","volume":"28","author":"Boothe","year":"1998"},{"key":"ref9","series-title":"J Am Vet Med Assoc","first-page":"618","article-title":"Fulminant hepatic failure associated with oral administration of diazepam in 11 cats","volume":"209","author":"Center","year":"1996"},{"key":"ref10","series-title":"J Vet Emerg Crit Care","first-page":"13","article-title":"Acute hepatic necrosis and liver failure associated with benzodiazepine therapy in six cats","volume":"6","author":"Hughes","year":"1996"},{"key":"ref11","series-title":"J Am Vet Med Assoc","first-page":"1131","article-title":"Disposition and clinical use of bromide in cats","volume":"221","author":"Boothe","year":"2002"},{"key":"ref12","series-title":"Eur J Pharmacol","first-page":"191","article-title":"Evidence for a unique profile of levetiracetam in rodent models of seizures and epilepsy","volume":"353","author":"Klitgaard","year":"1998"},{"key":"ref13","series-title":"Pharmacotherapy","first-page":"1375","article-title":"Levetiracetam: a novel antiepileptic drug","volume":"21","author":"Hovinga","year":"2001"},{"issue":"(suppl 4)","key":"ref14","series-title":"Epilepsia","first-page":"44","article-title":"The place of levetiracetam in the treatment of epilepsy","volume":"42","author":"Leppik","year":"2001"},{"key":"ref15","series-title":"Pharmacol Ther","first-page":"77","article-title":"Pharmacokinetic profile of levetiracetam: toward ideal characteristics","volume":"85","author":"Patsalos","year":"2000"},{"key":"ref16","series-title":"Epilepsia","first-page":"825","article-title":"Pharmacokinetics of levetiracetam and its enantiomer (R)-D-ethyl-2-oxo-pyrrolidine acetamide in dogs","volume":"42","author":"Isoherranen","year":"2001"},{"key":"ref17","series-title":"Expert Opin Drug Saf","first-page":"415","article-title":"Levetiracetam safety profiles and tolerability in epilepsy patients","volume":"3","author":"Briggs","year":"2004"},{"key":"ref18","series-title":"Drug Metab Dispos","first-page":"250","article-title":"In vitro evaluation of potential drug interactions with levetiracetam, a new antiepileptic agent","volume":"27","author":"Nicolas","year":"1999"},{"key":"ref19","series-title":"Seizure","first-page":"387","article-title":"Predicting drug-resistant patients who respond to add-on therapy with levetiracetam","volume":"15","author":"Kinirons","year":"2006"},{"key":"ref20","series-title":"Vet J","article-title":"The efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam in pharmacoresistant epileptic dogs","volume":"in press","author":"Volk","year":"2007"},{"key":"ref21","series-title":"Biomed Chromatogr","first-page":"37","article-title":"High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of levetiracetam in human plasma: comparison of different sample clean-up procedures","volume":"18","author":"Pucci","year":"2004"},{"key":"ref22","series-title":"Ther Drug Monit","first-page":"154","article-title":"A micromethod for the determination of the new antiepileptic drug levetiracetam (ucb L059) in serum or plasma by high performance liquid chromatography","volume":"18","author":"Ratnaraj","year":"1996"},{"key":"ref23","series-title":"Neurologist","first-page":"71","article-title":"New antiepileptic drugs","volume":"8","author":"Bazil","year":"2002"},{"key":"ref24","series-title":"J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry","first-page":"426","article-title":"A new antiepileptic drug","volume":"72","author":"Shorvon","year":"2002"}],"container-title":["Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/avmajournals.avma.org\/view\/journals\/javma\/232\/6\/javma.232.6.867.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/avmajournals.avma.org\/downloadpdf\/journals\/javma\/232\/6\/javma.232.6.867.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/avmajournals.avma.org\/downloadpdf\/journals\/javma\/232\/6\/javma.232.6.867.xml","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,7]],"date-time":"2025-03-07T13:29:44Z","timestamp":1741354184000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/avmajournals.avma.org\/view\/journals\/javma\/232\/6\/javma.232.6.867.xml"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2008,3,15]]},"references-count":24,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6"},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2460\/javma.232.6.867","relation":{},"ISSN":["0003-1488"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0003-1488","type":"print"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2008,3,15]]}}}