Sudden Death in Epilepsy: Can Any Lessons be Learned From Convulsive Therapy?

Convulsive therapy (chemically or electrically induced) has been used since the mid-1930s. Initially it had a high mortality rate, but this has been falling slowly in response to refinements in technique (introduction of muscle paralysis during the seizure, brief intravenous general anesthesia and, more recently, the acceptance that adequate ventilation and oxygenation are necessary during the procedure). Mortality during convulsive therapy has been ascribed to both cardiac and respiratory causes (particularly acute arrhythmias and pulmonary edema). There is some evidence that supporting respiration during and after the convulsion has reduced mortality significantly, such that electrical convulsive therapy is now a very low-risk procedure, even in the very elderly. This gives tenuous support for the view that death in epileptic seizures may be of respiratory origin.