Abstract
Seizures are common neurological complications in medical and postsurgical ICU patients and commonly arise from coexisting conditions associated with critical illness. Most seizures occur in ICU patients who did not have prior seizures or neurologic pathology as part of the primary admitting diagnosis. In general ICUs, metabolic abnormalities have been reported to account for 33 % of seizures, drug withdrawal for 33 %, drug toxicity for 14.5 %, and stroke for 9–39 % [1]. Hypoglycemia should always be excluded as this is imminently treatable and delayed diagnosis is associated with significant neurological injury. Status epilepticus as an admitting diagnosis is much less common than seizures occurring as a complication during the course of critical illness [2]. Most seizures that occur in the ICU setting manifest as generalized tonic-clonic convulsions.
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Marik, P.E. (2015). Seizures & Status Epilepticus. In: Evidence-Based Critical Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11020-2_44
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11020-2_44
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