Showing papers on "Status epilepticus published in 1971"

Subclinical "electrical status epilepticus" induced by sleep in children. A clinical and electroencephalographic study of six cases.

Abstract: THE TERM "Etat de Mal" was first coined by Calmeil 1 in 1824 to describe suc cessive generalized seizures without awakening in between. Prolonged epileptic manifestations have been described in grand mal epilepsy (grand mal status) as well as in focal epilepsies (epilepsia partialis continual). 2 Later, with the advent of electroencephalography, subtlety was achieved in describing those clinical conditions which coincided with prolonged generalized spike and wave discharges on the EEG. Thus, the following terms, petit mal status, absence status, and epilepsia minoris continua, were used to describe a condition in which, clinically, levels of consciousness are almost always altered, varying from mental dullness or obnubilation to a deep comatose state. 3 On the EEG it is characterized either by continuous generalized 3 cps or degraded spike-waves interrupted only by very brief periods of nonparoxysmal activity. In these conditions, there exists very few reports describing what happens during

Intravenous administration of diazepam. Effects on penicillin-induced focal seizures in the cat.

Abstract: THE BENZODIAZEPINE compound, diazepam, was noted to have anticonvulsant properties when used to prevent strychnine, pentylenetetrazol, and electroshock convulsions (Randall et al, 1961, 1 and Swinyard and Castellion, 1966 2 ). Lanoir et al 3 reported a diminution of the after-discharges resulting from stimulation of the amygdala and cortex as well as an elevation of the threshold to pentylenetetrazol seizures in cats pretreated with diazepam. Schallek et al, 4 using lower doses, reported raising the threshold to after-discharges of the thalamus but not of the cortex or amygdala. Hernandez-Peon et al 5 concluded from their experiments on electrical stimulation of the amygdala, hippocampus, and precruciate motor cortex in the cat that diazepam "has a generalized depressant action upon epileptogenic structures throughout the brain." Naquet and his colleagues 6 reported on the successful termination of status epilepticus in cats with cicatricial lesions, and Spehlmann and Colley 7 were able to

The syndrome of isolated epileptic status

Abstract: Within a group of 23 patients who presented with status epilepticus a syndrome is defined in which sudden unheralded status occurs in apparently healthy individuals. Recovery from the attack is complete and no other evidence of cerebral pathology may be found at the time. In seven of nine such cases studied the final diagnosis at follow-up, either by necropsy or by operation, was of cerebral tumour. In five of the seven the fronto-temporal region was the site of pathology. It is suggested that the occurrence of isolated status indicates a possible cerebral tumour for which careful search should be made and, if negative, follow-up study arranged. Of 20 of our patients with status epilepticus in whom the site of lesion was definite, nine were exclusively frontal and a further six had some frontal involvement. This confirms previous evidence that symptomatic status epilepticus indicates a frontal lesion.

Spike-wave stupor. Petit mal status.

Abstract: Two children had spike-wave stupor (SWS or, less precisely, "petit mal status"). Diagnosis rests largely on "thinking of it" in a youngster with a previous history of any variety of seizure disorders, and corroboration of the clinical impression with an electroencephalogram. While diazepam is perhaps the best drug to terminate this form of status epilepticus, individual patients may respond better to other standard epileptic medications.