Abstracts

Status Epilepticus. Epidemiological Study on 230 Patients.

Abstract number : 3.171
Submission category :
Year : 2000
Submission ID : 1771
Source : www.aesnet.org
Presentation date : 12/2/2000 12:00:00 AM
Published date : Dec 1, 2000, 06:00 AM

Authors :
Veronica Campanile, Maria B Viaggio, Alfredo E Thomson, Laura Diaz, Horacio Gori, Claudio Gonzalez, Hosp Municipal Teodoro Dr Alvarez, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Hosp Frances, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

RATIONALE: To examine the clinical characteristics of STATUS EPILEPTICUS (SE) in two Epilepsy centres in Buenos Aires City. METHODS: Two hundred and thirty adult patients were included prospectively between 1/ 1993 and 1/ 2000. We analysed the following items: age, sex, SE type, aetiology and mortality. An EEG was performed in all non convulsive SE s RESULTS: Average age was 44.76 years old (16-88). There was no difference between sexes. SE types were: partial, 149 (64.78%); generalised, 81 (35.21 %); convulsive, 180 (78.26 %); non-convulsive, 50 (21.73 %). Classification according to aetiology included: acute symptomatic, 114 patients (49.56 %), the most frequent cause being drug withdrawal in patients with known epilepsy; remote symptomatic, 65 patients (28.26 %), ischemic cerebrovascular disease was the first cause in these cases; progressive symptomatic, 21 patients (9.13 %), including tumors and degenerative diseases; idiopathic, 17 patients (7.93 %); cryptogenic, 13 patients (5.65 %). 23 patients died within the first month following the onset of SE. Average age was 44.76 years old (16-88). There was no difference between sexes. SE types were: partial, 149 (64.78%); generalised, 81 (35.21 %); convulsive, 180 (78.26 %); non-convulsive, 50 (21.73 %). Classification according to aetiology included: acute symptomatic, 114 patients (49.56 %), the most frequent cause being drug withdrawal in patients with known epilepsy; remote symptomatic, 65 patients (28.26 %), ischemic cerebrovascular disease was the first cause in these cases; progressive symptomatic, 21 patients (9.13 %), including tumors and degenerative diseases; idiopathic, 17 patients (7.93 %); cryptogenic, 13 patients (5.65 %). 23 patients died within the first month following the onset of SE. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are comparable with those found in large multicentric epidemiological studies, except for the incidence of non-convulsive SE which is higher in our series. This latter finding could be related to the clinical setting in which the study was performed.