High-dose lorazepam therapy for status epilepticus in a pediatric patient.

This report details the management of status epilepticus with high-dose lorazepam in a 14-year-old patient who was receiving oral clonazepam, ethosuximide, and phenobarbital for an intractable seizure disorder. Although respiratory depression is a frequently cited potential complication of therapy, it did not occur in this patient despite an extraordinarily high total dose of lorazepam, possibly because of tolerance associated with benzodiazepine-receptor down-regulation in this patient's chronic clonazepam therapy. Aggressive dosing of a benzodiazepine may be required for patients receiving chronic benzodiazepine therapy.