Show Notes
Take Home Points
- Get a detailed history to tease out whether the patient had a seizure or a syncopal event. Regardless, get an EKG on 1st time seizures in case it was actually syncope.
- BZDs are first line therapy for seizure termination. If you don’t have IV access, go with 10 mg of midazolam or 2-4 mg of lorazepam IM
- Always review the 5 main categories for causes of seizures in order to make sure you’re not missing anything. Those categories once again are vital sign abnormalities, CNS infections, toxic/metabolic issues, CNS space occupying lesions including masses and bleeds and finally epilepsy.
- In patients with a first time seizure without a particular cause and return to baseline neurologic status, there’s unlikely to be any benefit to a NCHCT or to starting an AED. Scheduling close follow up with a neurologist is very reasonable. The key is to do a thorough examination and make sure you’re not missing a subtle abnormality.
- Finally, in status epilepticus hit the patient with 2-3 hefty doses of BZDs and if the seizure is still ongoing, strongly consider moving to propofol and intubation in order to rapidly control the seizure activity.
Read More
Core EM: Parenteral Benzodiazepines
LITFL: Seizure
EMCrit: Podcast 155 – Status Epilepticus with Tom Bleck
First10EM: Management of Status Epilepticus in the Emergency Department
Huff SJ et al. Clinical Policy: Critical Issues in the Evaluation and Management of Adult Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department with Seizures. Ann Emerg Med 2014; 43(5): 605-25. PMID: 15111920
