Nonconvulsive Seizures in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: Out of Sight, Out of Mind?
Authors: Garcia Paul 
Published: May 2007

Nonconvulsive Seizures in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: Etiology, EEG, and Brain Imaging Findings. Saengpattrachai M, Sharma R, Hunjan A, Shroff M, Ochi A, Otsubo H, Cortez MA, Carter Snead O III. Epilepsia 2006;47(9):1510–1518. PURPOSE: To determine the occurrence of nonconvulsive seizures (NCS) in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU); to ascertain the relationship of NCS to past medical history, etiology, EEG, and brain imaging; and to determine the concordance between abnormal EEG findings and neuroimaging abnormalities. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted of all pediatric patients who were admitted or transferred to the PICU from January 2000 to December 2003 with an unexplained decrease in level of consciousness, no overt clinical seizures, and EEG recordings performed within the 24 hours of onset of an altered state of consciousness. RESULTS: Twenty-three of 141 patients who met criteria for inclusion in the study (16.3%) were found to have NCS. The male-to-female ratio was 1.9:1. The largest group of patients (43%) had no preexisting neurological condition prior to the onset of NCS. In the remainder, the etiology of NCS included: acute structural brain lesion (48%), acute nonstructural brain lesion (22%), epilepsy-related seizure (13%), and others (17%). Epileptic foci were lateralized to the right side in 39.2%, the left side in 30.4%, and were bilateral in 30.4%. Of 23 patients with NCS, 18 (78.3%) demonstrated abnormal neuroimaging. In 10 of 18 of these patients (55.6%), the findings on neuroimaging were concordant with the lateralization found on EEG ( p < 0.05, Fisher's exact test). CONCLUSIONS: NCS are not uncommon in pediatric patients with an altered state of consciousness. Almost half of the patients were previously healthy especially if they were under 6 months of age. This report highlights the importance of clinical awareness of NCS in the PICU. Nonconvulsive Status Epilepticus in Children: Clinical and EEG Characteristics. Tay SK, Hirsch LJ, Leary L, Jette N, Wittman J, Akman CI. Epilepsia 2006;47(9):1504—1509. BACKGROUND: Nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) is a highly heterogeneous clinical condition that is understudied in the pediatric population. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the epidemiological, clinical, and electroencephalograpic features in pediatric patients with NCSE. METHODS: We identified 19 pediatric patients with NCSE from the epilepsy database of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Columbia University between June 2000 and December 2003. Continuous EEG monitoring was analyzed and chart review was performed. RESULTS: The patients ranged from 1 month old to 17 years of age. Five patients developed NCSE following convulsive status epilepticus (CSE), and a further 12 patients developed NCSE after brief convulsions. Two developed NCSE as the first manifestation during a comatose state following hypoxic events. Acute hypoxic-ischemic injury was the most frequent etiology of NCSE in our population (5 of 19; 26%), followed by exacerbation of underlying neurometabolic disease (4 of 19; 21%), acute infection (3 of 19; 16%), change in antiepileptic drug regimen (3 of 19; 16%), refractory epilepsy (2 of 19; 11%), and intracranial hemorrhage (2 of 19; 11%). Six patients had associated periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges (PLEDs), one had generalized periodic epileptiform discharges (GPEDs). Five (5 of 19; 26%) patients died of the underlying acute medical illness. Periodic discharges were associated with worse outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of our patients with NCSE had preceding seizures in the acute setting prior to the diagnosis of NCSE, though most of these seizures were brief, isolated convulsions (12 patients) rather than CSE (five patients). Prolonged EEG monitoring to exclude NCSE may be warranted in pediatric patients even after brief convulsive seizures. Prompt recognition and treatment may be necessary to improve neurological outcome.