1043-3155 Pediatr Neurol Briefs pedneurbriefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs Pediatric Neurology Briefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs 2166-6482 1043-3155 2166-3155 Pediatric Neurology Briefs Publishers Chicago, IL, USA PNB-6-50-b 10.15844/pedneurbriefs-6-7-3 Seizure Disorders Neurology Pediatrics Nervous System Diseases Child Development Brain Diseases Neurosurgery Child Infant Recurrent Status Epilepticus http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0173-7931 Millichap J. Gordon MD 1 2 * Division of Neurology, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL Correspondence: Dr. J. Gordon Millichap, E-mail: jgmillichap@northwestern.edu 07 1992 01 07 2016 6 7 50 51 Copyright: © 1992 The Author(s) 1992 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Recurrent status epilepticus in children

The risk of recurrent status epilepticus in 95 children followed prospectively for a mean of 29 months was determined at the Montefiore Medical Center and affiliated hospitals of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.

 Recurrent Status Epilepticus Morbidity Focal Motor Seizures

The risk of recurrent status epilepticus in 95 children followed prospectively for a mean of 29 months was determined at the Montefiore Medical Center and affiliated hospitals of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York. Ages ranged from 1 month to 18 years (mean 4 years). The cause was idiopathic in 24, remote symptomatic in 18, febrile in 29, acute asymptomatic in 18 or a progressive neurologic disorder in 6. Neurologically abnormal children (34% of the study population) accounted for 88% of the recurrent status group and for all 5 children with multiple episodes of status epilepticus. The risk was related to the severity of the neurological abnormality, the multiply handicapped children being at highest risk. Fifteen of 16 children with recurrent status epilepticus were being treated with anti-epileptic drugs at the time of recurrence. The morbidity and mortality of status epilepticus were low. [1]

COMMENT. The authors indicate that status epilepticus in neurologically normal children is by and large an isolated event that should not unduly influence decisions regarding further therapy. The high risk subgroup of neurologically abnormal children with recurrent status epilepticus underscored the need for better treatment strategies.

The more frequent use of neurosurgical treatment of refractory status epilepticus is suggested by Gorman DG et al. in a report from the UCLA Pediatric Epilepsy Research Program, Los Angeles, CA [2]. The resection of a right frontal focus in a 9 year old boy with left focal motor seizures and status epilepticus was followed by immediate control of the seizures and no seizures for more than 1 year post-operatively while using carbamazepine monotherapy.

 Shinnar S Maytal J Krasnoff L Moshe SL Recurrent status epilepticus in children Ann Neurol 1992 Jun 31 6 598 604 10.1002/ana.410310606 1514772 Gorman DG Shields WD Shewmon DA Chugani HT Finkel R Comair YG Neurosurgical treatment of refractory status epilepticus Epilepsia 1992 May-Jun 33 3 546 549 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1992.tb01707.x 1592035