Clinical Study of Status Epilepticus in Children

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Convulsive status epilepticus(SE) is a serious, life-threatening neurological condition that requires immediate treatment to avoid significant morbidity and mortality. Despite improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of SE in the last two decades, SE in young infancy is still associated with high morbidity and mortality. Thus, understanding the varied etiology and clinical presentation and prognosis of SE is very important for improving the methods of evaluation and treatment of this major neurological condition. METHODS: Eighty-eight cases with 53 who have been admitted to the Department of Pediatrics, Fatima Hospital during the period of July, 1992 to June, 1997 were included. We described age distribution, etiologic classification according to age, seizure type, neurologic outcome, recurrence of SE and epileptic seizure. RESULTS: SE was frequent in young infant less than 3 years of age. Major etiology of SE was acute symptomatic(34.1%) and febrile(31.8%). In the seizure type, the majority(92.1%) was generalized convulsive, many cases(69.3%) of SE were first seizures. The neurologic sequelae were found in 15.9% and mortality rate in 5.7%. The neurologic sequelae and mortality were higher in acute symptomatic. In sixty-three follow-up cases, eleven cases were epileptic seizure, eight cases were recurred SE and two cases were recurred febrile SE. CONCLUSION: SE is a life-threatening neurological condition and occurrs mostly in young infants less than 3 years of age. It requires immediate detection of etiology in SE and aggressive treatment for reducing mortality and morbidity rates.