Short Versus Long-term Levetiracetam in Brain Tumors

Get Involved

Short Versus Long-term Levetiracetam in Brain Tumors

Study Purpose

Levetiracetam is the commonly preferred anti-seizure medicine in patients with brain tumors. This drug has reduced the risk of seizure events occurring but is associated with a risk of side effects such as increased headache, drowsiness, loss of muscle coordination, and psychological challenges in patients. In patients undergoing appropriate treatment for brain tumors and controlled of seizures in the initial few months of levetiracetam, the chance of further seizures is relatively low. The optimal duration to give levetiracetam is not well defined for these patients, and currently as standard treatment levetiracetam is continued for 2-3 years. This study aims to answer this question by comparing patients on a short course of levetiracetam (experimental arm) versus a longer course of levetiracetam (standard arm), with the anticipation that a shorter duration of treatment will not lead to increased seizure episodes.

Recruitment Criteria

Accepts Healthy Volunteers Healthy volunteers are participants who do not have a disease or condition, or related conditions or symptoms	No
Study Type An interventional clinical study is where participants are assigned to receive one or more interventions (or no intervention) so that researchers can evaluate the effects of the interventions on biomedical or health-related outcomes. An observational clinical study is where participants identified as belonging to study groups are assessed for biomedical or health outcomes. Searching Both is inclusive of interventional and observational studies.	Interventional
Eligible Ages	18 Years and Over
Gender	All

More Inclusion & Exclusion Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age ≥ 18years.

- History of seizure.

- Histological diagnosis of primary brain tumor.

- Supratentorial location of primary tumor.

- Controlled on levetiracetam monotherapy for 6 months.

- Index surgery within 1 year.

- Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) ≥ 50.

Exclusion Criteria:

- KPS < 50.

- No history of seizure.

- Unclear history of seizure episodes in the past.

- Use of antiepileptics other than levetiracetam in the previous 6 months.

- No histological diagnosis.

- Progressive disease.

- Brain metastasis.

- Altered mental status with deficits in understanding or inability to consent to the study

Trial Details

Trial ID: This trial id was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, providing information on publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants with locations in all 50 States and in 196 countries.	NCT06442748
Phase Phase 1: Studies that emphasize safety and how the drug is metabolized and excreted in humans. Phase 2: Studies that gather preliminary data on effectiveness (whether the drug works in people who have a certain disease or condition) and additional safety data. Phase 3: Studies that gather more information about safety and effectiveness by studying different populations and different dosages and by using the drug in combination with other drugs. Phase 4: Studies occurring after FDA has approved a drug for marketing, efficacy, or optimal use.	Phase 3
Lead Sponsor The sponsor is the organization or person who oversees the clinical study and is responsible for analyzing the study data.	Tata Memorial Centre
Principal Investigator The person who is responsible for the scientific and technical direction of the entire clinical study.	Archya Dasgupta
Principal Investigator Affiliation	Tata Memorial Centre Mumbai
Agency Class Category of organization(s) involved as sponsor (and collaborator) supporting the trial.	Other
Overall Status	Not yet recruiting
Countries
Conditions The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied.	Seizures, Brain Tumors, Antiepileptics, Levetiracetam

Additional Details

Patients with prior history of seizure from primary brain tumor in the supratentorial location with controlled seizure on levetiracetam monotherapy for at least six months will be considered for the study. Patients more than 18 years of age with KPS ≥ 50 will be eligible. Patients will be randomized in one of the two arms (standard arm or experimental arm) in a 1:1 ratio and stratified based on seizure type, location, histology, tumor grade, and adjuvant therapy. Randomization will be done by the statistician via computerized software using a permuted block design. In the standard arm, patients will continue on the same dose and schedule of levetiracetam (typically prescribed in the range of 1000-3000 mg/ day in 2-3 divided doses) for a duration of 2 years. In the experimental arm, levetiracetam will be tapered by 250- 500 mg every week and stopped. Follow-ups will be done every 3-6 months as per standard practice for the given tumor histology. Neuroimaging will be done 6-12 monthly as per routine clinical practice. The quality-of-life assessment will be done every six months. The primary endpoint is 2-year seizure free survival calculated from the time of randomization. Patients will continue to receive standard treatment, including adjuvant therapy as standard practice. In case in either arm, the patient develops a seizure episode after stopping levetiracetam will be restarted on levetiracetam monotherapy. If a patient develops a seizure episode while on levetiracetam monotherapy, further add-on antiepileptics will be considered as per standard practice by the responsible physician. Any complications arising from previous treatments (e.g., radio necrosis) or recurrent disease during the study period will be managed according to standard institutional practice without any influence of the study. The study will be conducted at Tata Memorial Centre with a total sample size of 604 patients for a duration of seven years.

Arms & Interventions

Arms

Other: STANDARD

In the standard arm, patients will continue on the same dose and schedule of levetiracetam (prescribed in the range of 1000-3000 mg/ day in 2-3 divided doses) for a duration of 2 years.

Experimental: EXPERIMENTAL

In the experimental arm, levetiracetam will be tapered by 250- 500 mg every week and then stopped.

Interventions

Drug: - Levetiracetam

Levetiracetam is usually preferred in brain tumor-related epilepsy. Levetiracetam is a second-generation antiepileptic drug that binds to synaptic vesicle glycoprotein SV2A, which interferes with the release of neurotransmitters from the synaptic vesicle and control seizure by multiple mechanisms.