Acute Symptomatic Seizures Caused By Electrolyte ... - PubMed

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Abstract

In this narrative review we focus on acute symptomatic seizures occurring in subjects with electrolyte disturbances. Quite surprisingly, despite its clinical relevance, this issue has received very little attention in the scientific literature. Electrolyte abnormalities are commonly encountered in clinical daily practice, and their diagnosis relies on routine laboratory findings. Acute and severe electrolyte imbalances can manifest with seizures, which may be the sole presenting symptom. Seizures are more frequently observed in patients with sodium disorders (especially hyponatremia), hypocalcemia, and hypomagnesemia. They do not entail a diagnosis of epilepsy, but are classified as acute symptomatic seizures. EEG has little specificity in differentiating between various electrolyte disturbances. The prominent EEG feature is slowing of the normal background activity, although other EEG findings, including various epileptiform abnormalities may occur. An accurate and prompt diagnosis should be established for a successful management of seizures, as rapid identification and correction of the underlying electrolyte disturbance (rather than an antiepileptic treatment) are of crucial importance in the control of seizures and prevention of permanent brain damage.

Keywords: EEG; electrolyte; epilepsy; hypernatremia; hypocalcemia; hyponatremia; seizures.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: There was no funding related to the preparation of this article.

Raffaele Nardone has no conflicts of interests to declare.

Francesco Brigo received speaker's honoraria from UCB Pharma.

Eugen Trinka has acted as a paid consultant to Eisai, Ever Neuropharma, Biogen Idec, Medtronics, Bial, and UCB and has received speakers' honoraria from Bial, Eisai, GL Pharma, GlaxoSmithKline, Boehringer, Viropharma, Actavis, and UCB Pharma in the past 3 years.

Eugen Trinka has received research funding from UCB Pharma, Biogen-Idec, Red Bull, Merck, the European Union, FWF Österreichischer Fond zur Wissenschaftsförderung, and Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung. Eugen Trinka is also part of the investigators planning the ESET-Trial and member of the Task Force on Classification of Status Epilepticus of the ILAE.

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