Recent advances in neonatal seizures

Abstract

Neonatal seizures are the most important indicators of underlying brain injury. Seizures in a neonate are different from seizures in older children in many aspects including clinical presentation and etiology. The neonatal brain is immature and tends to have a decreased seizure threshold. Neonatal seizures are classified, based on their presentation as, clinical seizures, electroclinical seizures and electroencephalographic seizures; based on the pathophysiology as epileptic and nonepileptic seizures; and also on the basis of the etiology. Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is the leading cause of neonatal seizures, followed by intracranial hemorrhage, metabolic causes such as hypoglycemia and hypocalcemia, intracranial infections and strokes. Neonatal epilepsy syndromes are rare. Electroencephalography (EEG) is the gold standard for diagnosis. Amplitude integrated EEG (aEEG) is also used for continuous monitoring. The approach to management consists of initial stabilization of the neonate followed by treatment of potentially correctable injurious processes such as hypocalcemia, hypoglycemia and electrolyte disturbances, etiology specific therapies and antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy. Phenobarbital remains the first line AED therapy. Pharmacokinetic data on newer drugs is limited. Prognosis depends on the etiology, seizure type, neurological examination at discharge and EEG. Long term neurodevelopmental follow up is essential for babies with neonatal seizures.