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Summary: Objective: To characterize a critically ill cohort with status epilepticus (SE) by the illness severity scoring systems SAPS II (Simplified Acute Physiology Score II), APACHE II (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II), and SOFA (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment), and to compare their performance with the STESS (Status Epilepticus Severity Score) for outcome prediction. Methods: The prospective cohort study was carried out at the University Hospital Basel, a Swiss tertiary academic medical care center. Consecutive adult SE patients hospitalized in the intensive care units from 2011 to 2016 were included. Illness severity scores and additional clinical data were recorded. Logistic regression models using automated variable selection were applied to identify scores associated with no return to functional and neurological baseline and death. Measures of discrimination and calibration were assessed. Results: Among 184 patients, 33% returned to baseline. Median scores of the illness severity scores were within the lowest third of the possible scoring ranges, and all differed significantly between patients with and without return to baseline. The areas under the receiver operating curves for the prediction of no return to baseline and death ranged from 0.64 to 0.73, with the highest value for the STESS predicting no return to baseline. Measures of calibration revealed adequate model fit for all analyses. Among integral components of the scoring systems, only the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) differed significantly between patients with and without return to baseline. In multivariable analyses, decreasing GCS and increasing STESS had the strongest associations (odds ratio [OR] = 0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.77‐0.93 and OR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.05‐1.68, respectively) with no return to baseline independent of all other scoring systems, whereas the APACHE II revealed the strongest association with death (OR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.06‐1.25). Significance: Although complex illness severity scoring systems in SE patients facilitate benchmarking and comparisons with other severely ill patient cohorts, they offer no advantages over the STESS and GCS regarding prediction of no return to baseline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The Salzburg criteria for nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) and the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society (ACNS) Standardized Critical Care EEG Terminology 2021 include a diagnostic trial with intravenous (IV) antiseizure medications (ASMs) to assess electroencephalographic (EEG) and clinical response as a diagnostic criterion for definite NCSE and possible NCSE. However, how to perform this diagnostic test and assessing the EEG and clinical responses have not been operationally defined. Methods: We performed a Delphi process involving six experts to standardize the diagnostic administration of IV ASM and propose operational criteria for EEG and clinical response. Results: Either benzodiazepines (BZDs) or non‐BZD ASMs can be used as first choice for a diagnostic IV ASM trial. However, non‐BZDs should be considered in patients who already have impaired alertness or are at risk of respiratory depression. Levetiracetam, valproate, lacosamide, brivaracetam, or (if the only feasible drug) fosphenytoin or phenobarbital were deemed appropriate for a diagnostic IV trial. The starting dose should be approximately two thirds to three quarters of the full loading dose recommended for treatment of status epilepticus, with an additional smaller dose if needed. ASMs should be administered during EEG recording under supervision. A monitoring time of at least 15 min is recommended. If there is no response, a second trial with another non‐BDZ or BDZs may be considered. A positive EEG response is defined as the resolution of the ictal–interictal continuum pattern for at least three times the longest previously observed spontaneous interval of resolution (if any), but minimum of one continuous minute. For a clinical response, physicians should use a standardized examination before and after IV ASM administration. We suggest a definite time‐locked improvement in a focal deficit or at least one‐step improvement on a new dedicated one‐domain 10‐level NCSE response scale. Significance: The proposed standardized approach of a diagnostic IV ASM trial further refines the ACNS and Salzburg diagnostic criteria for NCSE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Objectives: Early identification of patients who are at risk of prolonged status epilepticus (SE) and patients with high chances of full recovery despite prolonged SE may urge clinicians to intensify treatment rather than to withdraw care. We aimed to develop prediction models based on readily available clinical parameters to predict prolonged SE at seizure onset and to identify patients with high chances for full recovery. Methods: From 2005 to 2016, all adult SE patients treated at the University Hospital Basel, a Swiss medical care center, were included. Multivariable Poisson regression was performed to identify predictors of prolonged SE (defined as SE for >12, >24, and >48 hours) and return to baseline from prolonged SE. The area under the receiver‐operating characteristic curves (AUROC) for prediction models was calculated. Results: Of 467 patients, the median age was 66.7 years and mortality was 12%. Relative risk (RR) for death was 1.06 (P < 0.0001) with every SE day. In multivariable analysis, nonconvulsive SE with coma, SE severity score ≥3, and acute brain lesions at SE onset independently predicted prolonged SE with an AUROC of 0.68 for >12, 0.67 for >24, and 0.72 for >48 hours of SE. Absence of nonconvulsive SE with coma and a decreasing Charlson comorbidity index were independent predictors for return to baseline in prolonged SE with an AUROC of 0.82 and 0.76 following cross‐validation. Both associations remained significant despite adjustments for determinants of adverse outcome, such as anesthetics and vasopressors (nonconvulsive SE with coma RR = 0.24, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.07‐0.86; comorbidity index RR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.76‐0.99). Significance: Although our data indicate that identification of prolonged SE at seizure onset is unreliable, timely recognition of patients with high chances of good outcome despite prolonged SE is promising on the basis of comorbidities, type of SE, and level of consciousness. Further external validation of this prediction model is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diagnosis of nonconvulsive status epilepticus ( NCSE) relies largely on electroencephalography ( EEG) findings. The lack of a unified EEG terminology, and of evidence-based EEG criteria, leads to varying criteria for and ability to diagnose NCSE. We propose a unified terminology and classification system for NCSE, using, as a template, the Standardised Computer-based Organised Reporting of EEG ( SCORE). This approach integrates the terminology recently proposed for the rhythmic and periodic patterns in critically ill patients, the electroclinical classification of NCSE (type of NCSE) and the context for the pathologic conditions and age-related epilepsy syndromes. We propose flexible EEG criteria that employ the SCORE system to assemble a database for determining evidence-based EEG criteria for NCSE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]