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Seizures associated with levofloxacin: case presentation and literature review

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Abstract

Purpose

We present a case of a patient who developed seizures shortly after initiating treatment with levofloxacin and to discuss the potential drug-drug interactions related to the inhibition of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A2 in this case, as well as in other cases, of levofloxacin-induced seizures.

Methods

Several biomedical databases were searched including MEDLINE, Cochrane and Ovid. The main search terms utilized were case report and levofloxacin. The search was limited to studies published in English.

Results

Six cases of levofloxacin-induced seizures have been reported in the literature. Drug-drug interactions related to the inhibition of CYP1A2 by levofloxacin are likely involved in the clinical outcome of these cases.

Conclusions

Clinicians are exhorted to pay close attention when initiating levofloxacin therapy in patients taking medications with epileptogenic properties that are CYP1A2 substrates.

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Acknowledgements

AB receives financial support from the Fondation de la Recherche Medicale, France, CONACYT scholarship #74641 and the Young Minds in Psychiatry Award given by the American Psychiatric Association.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, INSERM U894 Laboratoire de Physiopathologie des Maladies Psychiatriques, Paris, France

    Alfredo Bellon

  2. Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Gonzalo Perez-Garcia, John H. Coverdale & Ranjit C. Chacko

Authors
  1. Alfredo Bellon
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  2. Gonzalo Perez-Garcia
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  3. John H. Coverdale
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  4. Ranjit C. Chacko
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Correspondence to Alfredo Bellon.

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Bellon, A., Perez-Garcia, G., Coverdale, J.H. et al. Seizures associated with levofloxacin: case presentation and literature review. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 65, 959–962 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-009-0717-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-009-0717-5

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