Epileptic seizures are a common complication at the acute phase of intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH). The incidence of seizures occurring within 7 days reaches 40% when subclinical seizures are diagnosed by continuous electroencephalogram (EEG).
Some studies have suggested that early seizures are associated with haematoma expansion (Vespa., Neurology 2003), worse neurological outcomes (Gilmore., Stroke 2016) or increased mortality. By contrast, other studies have shown no association of acute seizures with long-term mortality and outcome. However, the interpretation of these works is subject to bias because almost all studies were based on clinical detection of seizures only, while it has been shown that most early seizures after ICH are clinically unrecognised and can only be diagnosed with EEG monitoring.
The PEACH trial, a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, showed that clinical and/or electrographic seizures occur in more than 40% of patients with ICH and that Levetiracetam (LVT) is safe and effective in preventing these seizures. However, it remains unclear whether preventing acute seizures might lead to improved functional outcomes after ICH. An adequately powered randomised controlled trial is needed to answer whether primary seizure prophylaxis improves functional outcome in this setting. Answering this question would result in an important change in ICH acute care guidelines, which currently do not recommend primary prophylactic antiseizure treatment. As compared to research in acute ischemic stroke management, fewer clinical trials have been conducted in acute ICH and no effective medical treatments are available in this subset of patients.
The main objective of PEACH 2 is to establish if prophylactic antiseizure therapy with LVT improves functional outcome in adults with acute spontaneous ICH. Functional outcome assessed by the modified Rankin score (mRS score) six months after acute ICH will be compared between patients receiving prophylactic antiseizure therapy with levetiracetam and patients receiving placebo.
The secondary objectives are to examine the effect of prophylactic antiseizure therapy with levetiracetam versus placebo on:
* the number of early and late clinical seizures, on the short term and long term evolution of the neurologic deficit as assessed by the NIHSS, on long term functional outcome (12 months) as assessed by the mRS, on quality of life and cognitive impairment, and on haematoma expansion and mass effect on control brain imaging
* the frequency of side effects at 1 and 6 months, pneumonia at 1 month, delirium at 1 month, irritability/aggressivity, anxiety and depression at 1 and 6 months, and all-cause mortality at 1, 6 and 12 months.
580 patients will be recruited over 3 years.