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Cappellari AM, Palumbo S, Margiotta S. Questions and Controversies in Neonatal Seizures. CHILDREN (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 11:40. [PMID: 38255354 PMCID: PMC10814600 DOI: 10.3390/children11010040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Neonatal seizures are relatively common, but their diagnosis and management remain challenging. We reviewed the scientific literature on neonatal seizures from July 1973 to November 2023. Several parameters were considered, including pathophysiology, diagnostic criteria, electroencephalographic findings and treatment. Recent classification system of seizures and epilepsies in the newborn, as well as treatment recommendations of neonatal seizures, have been proposed. Nonetheless, the approach to neonatal seizures varies among clinicians and centres, including detection, investigation, treatment and follow-up of patients. There are still many issues on the diagnosis and treatment of neonatal seizures, including the meaning or relevance of some electroencephalographic findings, the precise estimation of the seizure burden, the limited efficacy and side effects risk of antiseizure medications, and the best measures to establish the outcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberto M. Cappellari
- Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Foundation IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, via Francesco Sforza 35, 20122 Milano, Italy
| | - Sarah Palumbo
- Postgraduate School of Paediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Milan, 20122 Milano, Italy; (S.P.); (S.M.)
| | - Stefania Margiotta
- Postgraduate School of Paediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Milan, 20122 Milano, Italy; (S.P.); (S.M.)
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2
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El-Dib M, Abend NS, Austin T, Boylan G, Chock V, Cilio MR, Greisen G, Hellström-Westas L, Lemmers P, Pellicer A, Pressler RM, Sansevere A, Tsuchida T, Vanhatalo S, Wusthoff CJ, Wintermark P, Aly H, Chang T, Chau V, Glass H, Lemmon M, Massaro A, Wusthoff C, deVeber G, Pardo A, McCaul MC. Neuromonitoring in neonatal critical care part I: neonatal encephalopathy and neonates with possible seizures. Pediatr Res 2022:10.1038/s41390-022-02393-1. [PMID: 36476747 DOI: 10.1038/s41390-022-02393-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Revised: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The blooming of neonatal neurocritical care over the last decade reflects substantial advances in neuromonitoring and neuroprotection. The most commonly used brain monitoring tools in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are amplitude integrated EEG (aEEG), full multichannel continuous EEG (cEEG), and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). While some published guidelines address individual tools, there is no consensus on consistent, efficient, and beneficial use of these modalities in common NICU scenarios. This work reviews current evidence to assist decision making for best utilization of neuromonitoring modalities in neonates with encephalopathy or with possible seizures. Neuromonitoring approaches in extremely premature and critically ill neonates are discussed separately in the companion paper. IMPACT: Neuromonitoring techniques hold promise for improving neonatal care. For neonatal encephalopathy, aEEG can assist in screening for eligibility for therapeutic hypothermia, though should not be used to exclude otherwise eligible neonates. Continuous cEEG, aEEG and NIRS through rewarming can assist in prognostication. For neonates with possible seizures, cEEG is the gold standard for detection and diagnosis. If not available, aEEG as a screening tool is superior to clinical assessment alone. The use of seizure detection algorithms can help with timely seizures detection at the bedside.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamed El-Dib
- Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Nicholas S Abend
- Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Topun Austin
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Geraldine Boylan
- INFANT Research Centre & Department of Paediatrics & Child Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Valerie Chock
- Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - M Roberta Cilio
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Neurology, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Gorm Greisen
- Department of Neonatology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital & Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Lena Hellström-Westas
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, and Division of Neonatology, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Petra Lemmers
- Department of Neonatology, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Adelina Pellicer
- Department of Neonatology, La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain; Neonatology Group, IdiPAZ, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ronit M Pressler
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, and Clinical Neuroscience, UCL- Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK
| | - Arnold Sansevere
- Department of Neurology and Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences; Children's National Hospital Division of Neurophysiology, Epilepsy and Critical Care, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Tammy Tsuchida
- Department of Neurology and Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences; Children's National Hospital Division of Neurophysiology, Epilepsy and Critical Care, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Sampsa Vanhatalo
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Children's Hospital, BABA Center, Neuroscience Center/HILIFE, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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3
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Pressler RM, Boylan GB. Translational neonatal seizure research - a reality check. Epilepsia 2022; 63:1874-1879. [PMID: 35524441 DOI: 10.1111/epi.17276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ronit M Pressler
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK.,Developmental Neurosciences, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK
| | - Geraldine B Boylan
- INFANT Research Centre, University College Cork, Ireland.,Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
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Heart Rate Variability Analysis for Seizure Detection in Neonatal Intensive Care Units. Bioengineering (Basel) 2022; 9:bioengineering9040165. [PMID: 35447725 PMCID: PMC9031489 DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering9040165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2022] [Revised: 03/28/2022] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
In Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), the early detection of neonatal seizures is of utmost importance for a timely clinical intervention. Over the years, several neonatal seizure detection systems were proposed to detect neonatal seizures automatically and speed up seizure diagnosis, most based on the EEG signal analysis. Recently, research has focused on other possible seizure markers, such as electrocardiography (ECG). This work proposes an ECG-based NSD system to investigate the usefulness of heart rate variability (HRV) analysis to detect neonatal seizures in the NICUs. HRV analysis is performed considering time-domain, frequency-domain, entropy and multiscale entropy features. The performance is evaluated on a dataset of ECG signals from 51 full-term babies, 29 seizure-free. The proposed system gives results comparable to those reported in the literature: Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve = 62%, Sensitivity = 47%, Specificity = 67%. Moreover, the system’s performance is evaluated in a real clinical environment, inevitably affected by several artefacts. To the best of our knowledge, our study proposes for the first time a multi-feature ECG-based NSD system that also offers a comparative analysis between babies suffering from seizures and seizure-free ones.
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Pavel AM, Rennie JM, de Vries LS, Blennow M, Foran A, Shah DK, Pressler RM, Kapellou O, Dempsey EM, Mathieson SR, Pavlidis E, Weeke LC, Livingstone V, Murray DM, Marnane WP, Boylan GB. Neonatal Seizure Management: Is the Timing of Treatment Critical? J Pediatr 2022; 243:61-68.e2. [PMID: 34626667 PMCID: PMC9067353 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.09.058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Revised: 09/23/2021] [Accepted: 09/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of the time to treatment of the first electrographic seizure on subsequent seizure burden and describe overall seizure management in a large neonatal cohort. STUDY DESIGN Newborns (36-44 weeks of gestation) requiring electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring recruited to 2 multicenter European studies were included. Infants who received antiseizure medication exclusively after electrographic seizure onset were grouped based on the time to treatment of the first seizure: antiseizure medication within 1 hour, between 1 and 2 hours, and after 2 hours. Outcomes measured were seizure burden, maximum seizure burden, status epilepticus, number of seizures, and antiseizure medication dose over the first 24 hours after seizure onset. RESULTS Out of 472 newborns recruited, 154 (32.6%) had confirmed electrographic seizures. Sixty-nine infants received antiseizure medication exclusively after the onset of electrographic seizure, including 21 infants within 1 hour of seizure onset, 15 between 1 and 2 hours after seizure onset, and 33 at >2 hours after seizure onset. Significantly lower seizure burden and fewer seizures were noted in the infants treated with antiseizure medication within 1 hour of seizure onset (P = .029 and .035, respectively). Overall, 258 of 472 infants (54.7%) received antiseizure medication during the study period, of whom 40 without electrographic seizures received treatment exclusively during EEG monitoring and 11 with electrographic seizures received no treatment. CONCLUSIONS Treatment of neonatal seizures may be time-critical, but more research is needed to confirm this. Improvements in neonatal seizure diagnosis and treatment are also needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreea M. Pavel
- INFANT Research Centre, Cork, Ireland,Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Janet M. Rennie
- Institute for Women's Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Linda S. de Vries
- Utrecht Brain Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Mats Blennow
- Department of Neonatal Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden,Division of Pediatrics, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention, and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Adrienne Foran
- Department of Neonatal Medicine, Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Divyen K. Shah
- Department of Neonatology, Royal London Hospital, London, United Kingdom,The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ronit M. Pressler
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Olga Kapellou
- Department of Neonatology, Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Eugene M. Dempsey
- INFANT Research Centre, Cork, Ireland,Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Sean R. Mathieson
- INFANT Research Centre, Cork, Ireland,Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Elena Pavlidis
- INFANT Research Centre, Cork, Ireland,Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Lauren C. Weeke
- Utrecht Brain Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Vicki Livingstone
- INFANT Research Centre, Cork, Ireland,Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Deirdre M. Murray
- INFANT Research Centre, Cork, Ireland,Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - William P. Marnane
- INFANT Research Centre, Cork, Ireland,Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, School of Engineering, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Geraldine B. Boylan
- INFANT Research Centre, Cork, Ireland,Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland,Reprint requests: Geraldine B. Boylan, PhD, INFANT Research Centre and Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University College Cork, Paediatric Academic Unit, 2nd Floor, Cork University Hospital, Wilton, Cork, Ireland T12 DFK4
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Kramer K, Bekmezian A, Nash K, Papp E, Glass HC. Expediting Treatment of Seizures in the Intensive Care Nursery. Pediatrics 2021; 148:peds.2020-013730. [PMID: 34380776 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2020-013730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Prolonged neonatal seizures are associated with poor neurodevelopmental outcomes. The aim of this quality improvement project was to decrease the time to medical treatment of seizures by 45% within 15 months for neonates admitted to the intensive care nursery (ICN) in an academic children's hospital. METHODS A multidisciplinary team developed key drivers for timely treatment of seizures. Targeted interventions included optimizing a seizure rescue process with a mechanism that brings a pharmacist to the bedside for expedited medication delivery, in addition to interactive educational sessions. The outcome measure was time from the decision to treat seizures to medication administration. The process measure was use of the seizure rescue process with a balancing measure of unnecessary activations of this process. Data were collected from monthly chart review and displayed on statistical process control charts for analysis. The intervention period was from January 2019 to March 2020. RESULTS Between January 2016 and March 2020, there were 203 seizure treatment events (160 preintervention and 43 postintervention) in the ICN. Time to treatment of neonatal seizures decreased by 48%, from a baseline of 27 minutes (January 2016 to December 2018) to 14 minutes by March 2020, which reflected significant and sustained improvement. This was associated with improvement in the process metric during the same time periods. Unnecessary seizure rescue process activations were stable postintervention. CONCLUSIONS Implementation of an innovative seizure rescue process, in conjunction with staff and provider education, expedited antiseizure therapy in the ICN without requiring code resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katelin Kramer
- Departments of Pediatrics .,UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, San Francisco, California
| | - Arpi Bekmezian
- Departments of Pediatrics.,UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, San Francisco, California
| | - Kendall Nash
- Departments of Pediatrics.,Neurology, Weil Institute for Neurosciences.,UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, San Francisco, California
| | - Elizabeth Papp
- UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, San Francisco, California
| | - Hannah C Glass
- Departments of Pediatrics.,Neurology, Weil Institute for Neurosciences.,Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California.,UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, San Francisco, California
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DeLaGarza-Pineda O, Mailo JA, Boylan G, Chau V, Glass HC, Mathur AM, Shellhaas RA, Soul JS, Wusthoff CJ, Chang T. Management of seizures in neonates with neonatal encephalopathy treated with hypothermia. Semin Fetal Neonatal Med 2021; 26:101279. [PMID: 34563467 DOI: 10.1016/j.siny.2021.101279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Neonatal encephalopathy (NE) is the most common etiology of acute neonatal seizures - about half of neonates treated with therapeutic hypothermia for NE have EEG-confirmed seizures. These seizures are best identified with continuous EEG monitoring, as clinical diagnosis leads to under-diagnosis of subclinical seizures and over-treatment of events that are not seizures. High seizure burden, especially status epilepticus, is thought to augment brain injury. Treatment, therefore, is aimed at minimizing seizure burden. Phenobarbital remains the mainstay of treatment, as it is more effective than levetiracetam and easier to administer than fosphenytoin. Emerging evidence suggests that, for many neonates, it is safe to discontinue the phenobarbital after acute seizures resolve and prior to hospital discharge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oscar DeLaGarza-Pineda
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital "Dr. Jose E. Gonzalez", Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.
| | - Janette A Mailo
- Neurology & Pediatrics, Stollery Children's Hospital and Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada.
| | - Geraldine Boylan
- Department of Pediatrics & Child Health University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
| | - Vann Chau
- Division of Neurology, Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
| | - Hannah C Glass
- Department of Neurology and Weill Institute for Neuroscience, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA, Department of Pediatrics, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Amit M Mathur
- Division of Neonatal Perinatal Medicine, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, SSM-Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, Saint Louis, MO, USA.
| | - Renée A Shellhaas
- Division of Pediatric Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
| | - Janet S Soul
- Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Courtney J Wusthoff
- Division of Child Neurology, Division of Pediatrics-Neonatal and Developmental Medicine Stanford Children's Health, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
| | - Taeun Chang
- Neurology & Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
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