Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Dec 16:7:62.
doi: 10.1186/s40560-019-0414-0. eCollection 2019.

Non-convulsive seizures in the encephalopathic critically ill cancer patient does not necessarily portend a poor prognosis

Cristina Gutierrez  1 , Merry Chen  2 , Lei Feng  3 , Sudhakar Tummala  4
Affiliations

Non-convulsive seizures in the encephalopathic critically ill cancer patient does not necessarily portend a poor prognosis

Cristina Gutierrez et al. J Intensive Care. .

Abstract

Background: Non-convulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) is present in 10-30% of ICU patients with altered mental status (AMS) and is associated to poor outcomes. To our knowledge, there is no data describing the prevalence and outcomes of critically ill cancer patients with AMS associated to non-convulsive seizures (NCS) or NCSE. We aim to describe the outcomes and risk factors of critically ill cancer patients with encephalopathy associated with non-convulsive seizures (NCS).

Methods: This is a 3-year prospective observational study in a mixed oncological ICU at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Data of ICU patients with moderate to severe encephalopathy (Glasgow Coma Score < 13) that underwent EEG monitoring to rule out NCS were collected. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify risk factors and outcomes.

Results: Of the 317 patients with encephalopathy who underwent EEG monitoring, 14.5% had NCS. Known risk factors such as sepsis, CNS infection, antibiotics, and cardiac arrest were not associated with increased risk of NCS. Patients with NCS were more likely to have received recent chemotherapy (41.3% vs 21.4%; p = 0.0036), have a CNS disease (39% vs 24.4%; p = 0.035), and abnormal brain imaging (60.9% vs 44.6%; p = 0.041). Patients with lower SOFA scores, normal renal function, and absence of shock were likely to have NCS as the cause of their encephalopathy (p < 0.03). After multivariate analysis, only abnormal brain imaging and absence of renal failure were associated with NCS. Mortality was significantly lower in patients with non-convulsive seizures when compared to those without seizures (45.7% vs 64%; p = 0.022); however, there was no significant association of seizures and mortality on a multivariable logistic regression analysis.

Conclusions: NCS in critically ill cancer patients is associated with abnormalities on brain imaging and lower prevalence of organ failure. Diagnosis and treatment of NCS should be a priority in encephalopathic cancer patients, as they can have lower mortality than non-seizing patients. Opposite to other populations, NCS should not be considered a poor prognostic factor in critically ill encephalopathic cancer patients as they reflect a reversible cause for altered mentation.

Keywords: Cancer; Critically ill; Encephalopathy; Mortality; Non-convulsive seizures; Status epilepticus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Claassen J, Mayer SA, Kowalski RG, Emerson RG, Hirsch LJ. Detection of electrographic seizures with continuous EEG monitoring in critically ill patients. Neurology. 2004;62(10):1743–1748. - PubMed
    1. Kurtz P, Gaspard N, Wahl AS, Bauer RM, Hirsch LJ, Wunsch H, et al. Continuous electroencephalography in a surgical intensive care unit. Intensive care medicine. 2014;40(2):228–234. - PubMed
    1. Oddo M, Carrera E, Claassen J, Mayer SA, Hirsch LJ. Continuous electroencephalography in the medical intensive care unit. Critical care medicine. 2009;37(6):2051–2056. - PubMed
    1. Schmitt SE. Utility of clinical features for the diagnosis of seizures in the intensive care unit. J Clin Neurophysiol. 2017;34(2):158–161. - PubMed
    1. Laccheo I, Sonmezturk H, Bhatt AB, Tomycz L, Shi Y, Ringel M, et al. Non-convulsive status epilepticus and non-convulsive seizures in neurological ICU patients. Neurocrit Care. 2015;22(2):202–211. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources