Neonatal status epilepticus

Abstract

Seizures are more prevalent during the neonatal period than at any other time in the human lifespan. During early development, neonates are developmentally predisposed to excitatory neuronal activity increasing their susceptibility to seizures. Status epilepticus is poorly defined in this subpopulation with a lack of a consensus definition. In this review, we discuss the common etiologies of recurrent seizures in the newborn in addition to current trends on monitoring and treatment. Finally, we discuss the current evidence in both animal and human studies that indicate that neonatal seizures may be harmful to the immature brain with adverse long-term neurodevelopment outcomes.