|
Speciality Spotlight
Status
Epilepticus
-
DM Treiman, for the Veterans Affairs Status Epilepticus Cooperative Study Group (Veterans Affairs Med Ctr, West Los Angeles; Veterans Affairs med Ctr, Bronx, NY; Veterans Affairs Med Ctr, Birmingham, Ala; et al)
A Comparison of Four Treatments for Generalized Convulsive Status Epilepticus.
N Engl J Med 339 : 792-798, 1998.
Three hundred eight-four patients with a verified diagnosis of status epilepticus and 134 patients with subtle generalized convulsive status epilepticus were enrolled in a 5-year randomized, double-blind, multicentre study.
The four intravenous drugs used were (i) diazepam, 0.15mg/kg body weight followed by phenytoin, 18mg/kg (ii) Lorazepam, 0.1mg/kg (iii) Phenobarbital 15mg/kg and (iv) Phenytoin, 18mg/kg.
The author concludes that Lorazepam is more effective than phenytoin for the initial iv treatment of overt generalized convulsive status epilepticus. Lorazepam is easier to use than the other agents tested.