title: Terminating prolonged refractory status epilepticus using ketamine.
abstract: Refractory status epilepticus (RSE) is an emergent and difficult neurologic problem that is not uncommon in clinical practice. In this report, we describe a 23-year-old man whose RSE was refractory to standard antiepileptic drugs and barbiturates; it was successfully terminated only with intravenous ketamine. In this report, we evaluated and discuss the clinical and electroencephalographic effects under ketamine. This case and the rare cases of ketamine experience in RSE reported in the literature show that ketamine is potentially effective to use when treating patients with RSE. Further clinical trials are warranted, however.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Sin Lau Hospital; and Institute of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Cheng-Yang
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.forename: Pi-Shan
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: Jing-Jane
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Chin-Wei
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007649:Ketamine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D013226:Status Epilepticus / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D007649:Ketamine