Levetiracetam Improves Upper Limb Spasticity in a Patient With Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome: A Case Report

Abstract

Severe spasticity is a frequent and disabling complication in patients presenting disorders of consciousness (DOC) that hinders their rehabilitative process, and is strongly correlated with pain reducing patients’ quality of life. In these patients, abnormal postures may occur as an expression of severe brain damage. Here we present the case of a 52-year-old man in decorticate rigidity following a hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy due to myocardial infarction who showed improvement of spasticity of upper limbs following intake of levetiracetam combined with the conventional neurorehabilitation program.