[Childhood epilepsy status in a university hospital: a descriptive study].
BACKGROUND
Epileptic status (ES) is a medical emergency with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. AIM. To produce a retrospective description of the ES that are seen in the paediatric population attended in our centre.


METHODS
We surveyed the records of 41 patients who presented ES and were controlled in the child neurology department between December 1999 and June 2007. Depending on the type of seizures, the cases were classified as either convulsive ES (CES) or non-convulsive ES (NCES). They were divided into categories according their causation using the modified Hauser classification. Newborn infants were excluded.


RESULTS
A total of 41 patients were analysed, 25 (60%) of whom were males. The mean age was 32 months. Fifty-one per cent of cases were CES and 49% were NCES. Acute symptomatic ES (ASES) was the most frequent, especially in those under 2 years of age. ES recurrence was found to be 42% and ASES stood out as the least recurrent. The mortality rate was 2%.


CONCLUSIONS
There was no difference in the number of cases between CES and NCES, probably due to the use of continual electroencephalogram monitoring in hospitalised patients with impaired consciousness. Hypoxic-ischaemic events were the chief cause of ASES, and malformations of the central nervous system prevailed in those of a remote aetiology. The rate of recurrence was high and in such cases patients must be submitted to a strict follow-up, especially those with an underlying condition.
Aránguiz
J
J
Sección de Neurología Infantil, Departamento de Pediatría, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. aranguizromero@gmail.com
Hernández
M
M
Escobar
R G
RG
Mesa
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013226:Status Epilepticus / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology*