• Hannah C Glass, Courtney J Wusthoff, Renée A Shellhaas, Tammy N Tsuchida, Sonia Lomeli Bonifacio, Malaika Cordeiro, Joseph Sullivan, Nicholas S Abend, and Taeun Chang.
• From the Departments of Neurology (H.C.G., J.S.) and Pediatrics (H.C.G., S.L.B., J.S.), University of California, San Francisco; Division of Child Neurology (C.J.W.), Stanford University School of Medicine, California; the Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics (N.S.A.), The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; the Department of Pediatrics & Communicable Diseases (Division of Pediatric Neurology) (R.A.S.), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and the Division of Neurophysiology, Epilepsy & Critical Care (T.N.T., M.C., T.C.), Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC.
• Neurology. 2014 Apr 8;82(14):1239-44.

ObjectiveTo assess the risk factors for electrographic seizures among neonates treated with therapeutic hypothermia for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).MethodsThree-center observational cohort study of 90 term neonates treated with hypothermia, monitored with continuous video-EEG (cEEG) within the first day of life (median age at onset of recording 9.5 hours, interquartile range 6.3-14.5), and continued for >24 hours (total recording 93.3 hours, interquartile range 80.1-112.8 among survivors). A pediatric electroencephalographer at each site reviewed cEEGs for electrographic seizures and initial EEG background category.ResultsA total of 43 (48%) had electrographic seizures, including 9 (10%) with electrographic status epilepticus. Abnormal initial EEG background classification (excessively discontinuous, depressed and undifferentiated, burst suppression, or extremely low voltage), but not clinical variables (including pH <6.8, base excess ≤-20, or 10-minute Apgar ≤ 3), was strongly associated with seizures.ConclusionsElectrographic seizures are common among neonates with HIE undergoing hypothermia and are difficult to predict based on clinical features. These results justify the recommendation for cEEG monitoring in neonates treated with hypothermia.

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