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Epilepsy

Timely treatment of refractory convulsive status epilepticus

Nature Reviews Neurology volume 14, pages 256–258 (2018)Cite this article

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Delayed treatment of status epilepticus is known to increase seizure duration, but new research shows that a delay of more than 10 minutes from seizure onset increases morbidity and risk of death. The findings emphasize the importance of time and suggest that status epilepticus should be treated as a medical emergency.

Refers to Gaínza-Lein M, et al. Association of time to treatment with short-term outcomes for pediatric patients with refractory convulsive status epilepticus. JAMA Neurol. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2017.4382 (2018).

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Figure 1: Current recommendations for the therapeutic treatment of established status epilepticus and refractive convulsive status epilepticus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatrics, University of L'Aquila, San Salvatore Hospital, L'Aquila, Italy

    Alberto Verrotti & Chiara Mazzocchetti

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  1. Alberto Verrotti
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  2. Chiara Mazzocchetti
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Correspondence to Alberto Verrotti.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Verrotti, A., Mazzocchetti, C. Timely treatment of refractory convulsive status epilepticus. Nat Rev Neurol 14, 256–258 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2018.38

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