Status epilepticus

Abstract

Of neurologic emergencies, status epilepticus (SE) is one of the most common with an incidence of approximately 10–20/100,000/y. In addition, it carries a high mortality between 3% and 40% depending on age, etiology, and other factors. Not unexpectedly, SE is also costly with an estimated annual burden of $4 billion in the United States.1 To put this in perspective, the annual direct costs of epilepsy care are approximately $9 to $12 billion.2 Now imagine that the care of patients with this common emergency was guided by low-level evidence. Furthermore, imagine that it was becoming clear that early treatment of SE is substantially more effective and prevents the need for additional aggressive, invasive, and costly treatments. This is the current state of the treatment of SE.