Neonatal status epilepticus I: Clinical aspects.

Fifteen newborns with neonatal status epilepticus were prospectively identified from a protocol of convulsion in the newborn, at the neonatal intensive care unit. The mean postnatal age was 7.1 days, with fourteen full term babies and one premature. Previous complications during childbirth existed in twelve infants. The principal etiology associated was hypoxic-ischemic-encephalopathy, and four patients died. In thirteen cases the antecedent of subtle seizures existed; only in four cases was status epilepticus suspected. Difficulty in clinical recognition makes it necessary to perform an EEG on each newborn with risk factors, abnormal neurological manifestations, or with prolonged and or repeated hypoxic perinatal antecedents.