Review of a Large Clinical Series: Outcome of Pediatric Status Epilepticus Admitted to Intensive Care

The authors determine the relationship between seizure duration, etiology, and outcome in a modern intensive care setting and assess the usefulness of computed tomography (CT) and the empiric use of antimicrobial therapy. The design was a retrospective chart review. The setting was a tertiary pediatric critical care unit. Patients included 161 consecutive admissions to the critical care unit at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, with status epilepticus over a 3-year period. There were no interventions. The overall mortality was 5.6%. A further 11% experienced an adverse neurological outcome as determined on hospital discharge. Mean seizure duration was 1.5 ± 2.8 hours in those children with a normal outcome, 1.7 ± 1.2 hours in those survivors with an abnormal neurological outcome (P > 0.05), and 6.8 ± 12 hours in those who died ( P < 0.05). The CT scan was abnormal in 41% of cases. New findings that directly affected immediate management decisions were found in 20% of CT scans. Both the duration and etiology of status epilepticus affect the outcome. CT scanning should be done without delay, once the patient is stable. Antiviral therapy should be started empirically now that encephalitis is far more common than bacterial meningitis in this group of patients. Studies are lacking that compare the efficacy of drugs available to treat status epilepticus. These studies need to be done, as the findings could affect the duration of status.