Status epilepticus: pathophysiology, epidemiology, and outcomes

Convulsive status epilepticus (CSE) is the most common neurological medical emergency and continues to be associated with significant morbidity and mortality.Our approach to the epilepsies in childhood has been clarified by the broad separation into benign and malignant syndromes.The factors that suggest a poorer outcome in terms of seizures, cognition, and behaviour include the presence of multiple seizure types, an additional, particularly cognitive disability, the presence of identifiable cerebral pathology, a high rate of seizures, an early age of onset, poor response to antiepileptic drugs, and the occurrence of CSE. 1 Convulsive status epilepticus is not a syndrome in the same sense as febrile convulsions, benign rolandic epilepsy, and infantile polymorphic epilepsy.These latter disorders have a tight age frame, seizure semiology, and a reasonably predictable outcome.Episodes of CSE can occur in each: occasionally in febrile convulsions, rarely in benign rolandic epilepsy, and often in infantile polymorphic epilepsy.