A retrospective, single-center study looked at outcomes after burst-suppression with anesthesia for RSE patients with and without anoxic brain injury.
Refractory status epilepticus (SE) is defined as SE persisting despite the administration of a benzodiazepine plus a second-line antiseizure drug. Treatment of refractory status epilepticus (RSE) involves the use of intravenous anesthetics to achieve either electrographic seizure cessation or therapeutic burst-suppression. However, it is unclear which EEG endpoints are superior to others. Fisch and colleagues conducted a retrospective, single-center study of patients with RSE treated with anesthesia to evaluate the frequency of achieving therapeutic burst suppression and whether burst-suppression was associated with better clinical outcomes. The authors divided the cohort into three groups: complete burst suppression, incomplete burst suppr…