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2008/9 Catalogue
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Summary
November 2005, Vol. 5, No. 6, Pages 777-783 , DOI 10.1586/14737175.5.6.777
(doi:10.1586/14737175.5.6.777)

Review
Pharmacologic management of convulsive status epilepticus in childhood
Kai Eriksson & Reetta Kälviäinen
Author for correspondence



The incidence of convulsive status epilepticus in children is approximately 20–50/100,000/year, and is an emergency requiring prompt medical intervention. Prolonged seizures lasting over 5 min are unlikely to stop spontaneously, and time-to-treatment influences treatment response. Prolonged seizures should thus be treated as early status epilepticus. Mortality and morbidity increase significantly with the length of ongoing seizure activity, especially after 60 min. Benzodiazepines remain the first-line drug therapy due to their rapid onset of action. Recent studies imply that buccal midazolam is more effective and easier to administer than rectal diazepam. Phenytoin/fosphenytoin and phenobarbital administered intravenously remain the second-line treatments of choice, whilst barbiturates and midazolam as intravenous anesthetics are used for third-line treatment. Electroencephalogram monitoring is essential to evaluate the electrophysiologic treatment response and depth of anesthesia, especially in refractory status epilepticus. In the future, more individualized protocols and pathways are needed in order to optimize treatment responses. Randomized clinical trials are needed to evaluate new treatment protocols, which should not only stop the seizures more effectively but also be safer and include some neuroprotective elements to halt the cascade of neuronal injury and minimize the risk for neurologic morbidity caused by the convulsive status epilepticus.

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Cited by

Stuart Lewena, Victoria Pennington, Jason Acworth, Susan Thornton, Peter Ngo, Shona McIntyre, David Krieser, Jocelyn Neutze, Deirdre Speldewinde. (2009) Emergency Management of Pediatric Convulsive Status Epilepticus. Pediatric Emergency Care 25:2, 83-87
Online publication date: 1-Mar-2009.
CrossRef
David M. Walker, Stephen J. Teach. (2006) Update on the acute management of status epilepticus in children. Current Opinion in Pediatrics 18:3, 239-244
Online publication date: 1-Jul-2006.
CrossRef

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Authors:
Kai Eriksson
Reetta Kälviäinen
Keywords:
barbiturates
benzodiazepines
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phenobarbital
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status epilepticus
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