Clinical features of status epilepticus (SE) were analysed retrospectively in a five-year period. Among 55 patients there were 65 episodes of SE, most frequently of generalised tonic-clonic type. There were also 7 episodes of simple motor, 5 of complex partial, 1 of petit mal and 4 of nonconvulsive "electric" SE. Seventy-five percent of patients with initial SE had organic brain disease as an underlying cause versus 14% of patients with intercurrent SE (p = 0.002). The most frequent precipitating factor in the group of intercurrent status epilepticus was erroneous antiepileptic drug treatment. Median duration of SE in the group with idiopathic causes was 5.5, in the group with acute symptomatic causes 6.5, in the group with chronic symptomatic causes 14, in the group of fatal cases 5, and in the whole group 10.5 hours (p0.05). Most of this time (30% to 98% of the whole time, median value 79%) elapsed before admission to the Department, showing poor prehospital management. Termination of SE was accomplished with standard treatment (intravenous diazepam and intramuscular phenobarbital) in 47 cases within 30 minutes, while the others required additional treatment. Due to the underlying diseases there were 6 fatal cases (9.2%), 2 during uninterrupted SE and 4 after the seizure abolishion. There was no neurological or intellectual deterioration after the termination of SE, that could be attributed to detrimental effects of SE per se. Finally, the description of 5 cases of complex partial SE is included. These results were also compared to other research results as presented in several recent references.
Adult Female