Management of Status Epilepticus

Abstract

IN 1824 Calmeil first described "grand mal" status epilepticus in his thesis, De l'Epilepsie.1 He had observed patients who had repeated tonic-clonic seizures and did not recover consciousness between attacks. Fifty-two years later, Bourneville referred to status epilepticus as "etat de mal" in his book published in 1876.2 The full meaning of "status epilepticus," however, was not fully appreciated until 1962, when it was defined as "epileptic seizures that are so frequently repeated or so prolonged as to create a fixed and lasting epileptic condition."3 The term was applied to continuous seizures lasting at least 30 minutes, even when . . .