title: Etiological profile of epilepsia partialis continua among adults in a tertiary care hospital.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Epilepsia partialis continua (EPC), is a subtype of status epilepticus, have a varied spectrum of etiology and the out-come depends on the etiology.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study is aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics and outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a prospective analysis of 17 patients admitted to our center between August 2010 and April 2012. EPC was defined as regular or irregular clonic muscular twitches affecting a limited part of the body, occurring for a minimum of 1 h, and recurring at intervals of no more than 10 s. The data collected included etiology, radiological findings, electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities, associated comorbid conditions, and outcome.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age at presentation was 44.26 ± 13.77 years and the mean duration was 2.7 ± 1.5 days. There were ten patients with diabetic non-ketotic hyperosmolar state and one patient each of oligodendroglioma, varicella zoster vasculitis, central nervous demyelination, ischemic stroke, post traumatic seizure, arteriovenous malformation, and in one patient no cause could be established. Imaging showed abnormality only in five patients and EEG was abnormal in four patients. The EPC was controlled by one antiepileptic drug (AED) in eight patients, with two AEDs in seven patients and two patients required three AEDs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  EPC is a rare type of focal motor status epilepticus. Treatment of the underlying cause in addition to controlling EPC is essential to achieve the good outcomes.
authors: Department of Neurology, GMCH, Guwahati, Assam, India.
authors: Vikrant
authors: V
authors: Shrivastava
authors: Nishkala Prabhu
authors: NP
authors: Burji
authors: Lakshya J
authors: LJ
authors: Basumatary
authors: Marami
authors: M
authors: Das
authors: Munundra
authors: M
authors: Goswami
authors: Ashok Kumar
authors: AK
authors: Kayal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D017036:Epilepsia Partialis Continua / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006944:Hyperglycemic Hyperosmolar Nonketotic Coma / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies