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
. 2023 Mar 1;39(3):142-147.
doi: 10.1097/PEC.0000000000002915. Epub 2023 Feb 16.

Clinical Features and Management of Status Epilepticus in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Ekin Soydan  1 , Yigithan Guzin  2 , Sevgi Topal  1 , Gulhan Atakul  1 , Mustafa Colak  1 , Pinar Seven  1 , Ozlem Sarac Sandal  1 , Gokhan Ceylan  1 , Aycan Unalp  2 , Hasan Agin  1
Affiliations

Clinical Features and Management of Status Epilepticus in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Ekin Soydan et al. Pediatr Emerg Care. .

Abstract

Objectives: Status epilepticus (SE) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality in children. SE in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) are not well characterized. The aim of this study is to retrospectively investigate the clinical features and treatment of seizures in children admitted to the PICU of our hospital.

Methods: We retrospectively examined the clinical characteristics of patients aged between 1 month and 18 years who were admitted to our hospital with SE or who were diagnosed with SE after hospitalization and were followed up with continuous electroencephalographic monitoring between January 2015 and December 2019.

Results: A total of 88 patients with SE, 50 (56.8%) boys and 38 (43.2%) girls, were included. The median age was 24 months (interquartile range, 12-80 months). When we evaluate the continuous electroencephalographic monitoring data, 27 (30.7%) were lateralized, 20 (22.7%) were multifocal, 30 (34.1%) were generalized, and 11 (12.5%) were bilateral independent epileptic activity. Seventy nine patients (89.8%) were evaluated as convulsive status epilepticus (CSE) and 9 (10.2%) as nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE). Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM III) score and mortality of patients with NCSE were higher ( P = 0.004 and P = 0.046, respectively). Thirteen eight patients (43.1%) were diagnosed as SE, 38 patients (43.1%) as refractory SE, and 12 patients (13.6%) as super-refractory SE. The overall mortality rate was 10.2%.

Conclusions: Status epilepticus is a neurological emergency that causes mortality and morbidity. Electroencephalographic monitoring is important for the recognition of seizures and rapid intervention. No superiority of second-line treatments or combined treatments was demonstrated in patients with SE.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Trinka E, Cock H, Hesdorffer D, et al. A definition and classification of status epilepticus—report of the ILAE Task Force on Classification of Status Epilepticus. Epilepsia . 2015;56:1515–1523.
    1. Pisani F, Pavlidis E. What is new: talk about status epilepticus in the neonatal period. Eur J Paediatr Neurol . 2018;22:757–762.
    1. Glauser T, Shinnar S, Gloss D, et al. Evidence-based guideline: treatment of convulsive status epilepticus in children and adults: report of the Guideline Committee of the American Epilepsy Society. Epilepsy Curr . 2016;16:48–61.
    1. Eriksson K, Metsäranta P, Huhtala H, et al. Treatment delay and the risk of prolonged status epilepticus. Neurology . 2005;65:1316–1318.
    1. Chin RF, Neville BG, Peckham C, et al. Treatment of community-onset, childhood convulsive status epilepticus: a prospective, population-based study. Lancet Neurol . 2008;7:696–703.

LinkOut - more resources