La relevancia del tiempo en la epilepsia parcial continua

IntroductionTiming is one of the most important modifiable prognostic factors in the management of status epilepticus. Epilepsia partialis continua (EPC) is a status epilepticus subtype of highly variable, occasionally prolonged, duration. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between EPC duration and outcomes.MethodsWe performed an observational prospective study of all patients with EPC admitted to our tertiary hospital between 1 September 2017 and 1 September 2018.ResultsThe sample included 10 patients, of whom 9 were women; median age was 74 years. The most frequent aetiology was cerebrovascular disease (n = 6). EPC onset occurred outside the hospital in 5 patients, with a median time to hospital admission of 4 hours. The median time to treatment onset for all patients was 12.3 hours. The median time from treatment onset to EPC control was 30 hours; time from treatment onset to EPC control showed a strong positive correlation with TT (Spearman's rho = 0.88). Six patients presented hyperglycaemia at onset; this was positively correlated with time from treatment onset to EPC control (rho = 0.71). All 6 patients with hyperglycaemia presented a brain injury explaining the EPC episode.ConclusionsDelays were observed in different phases of EPC management, which was related to longer duration of the episode. Glycaemia was also related to episode duration, probably acting as a triggering factor rather than as the aetiology.