• Nicolas Gaspard, Brandon Foreman, Lilith M Judd, James N Brenton, Barnett R Nathan, Blathnaid M McCoy, Ali Al-Otaibi, Ronan Kilbride, Ivan Sánchez Fernández, Lucy Mendoza, Sophie Samuel, Asma Zakaria, Giridhar P Kalamangalam, Benjamin Legros, Jerzy P Szaflarski, Tobias Loddenkemper, Cecil D Hahn, Howard P Goodkin, Jan Claassen, Lawrence J Hirsch, and Suzette M Laroche.
• Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA. nicolas.gaspard@yale.edu
• Epilepsia. 2013 Aug 1; 54 (8): 1498-503.

PurposeTo examine patterns of use, efficacy, and safety of intravenous ketamine for the treatment of refractory status epilepticus (RSE).MethodsMulticenter retrospective review of medical records and electroencephalography (EEG) reports in 10 academic medical centers in North America and Europe, including 58 subjects, representing 60 episodes of RSE that were identified between 1999 and 2012. Seven episodes occurred after anoxic brain injury.Key FindingsPermanent control of RSE was achieved in 57% (34 of 60) of episodes. Ketamine was felt to have contributed to permanent control ("possible" or "likely" responses) in 32% (19 of 60) including seven (12%) in which ketamine was the last drug added (likely responses). Four of the seven likely responses, but none of the 12 possible ones, occurred in patients with postanoxic brain injury. No likely responses were observed when infusion rates were lower than 0.9 mg/kg/h, when ketamine was introduced at least 8 days after SE onset, or after failure of seven or more drugs. Ketamine was discontinued due to possible adverse events in five patients. Complications were mostly attributed to concurrent drugs, especially other anesthetics. Mortality rate was 43% (26 of 60), but was lower when SE was controlled within 24 h of ketamine initiation (16% vs. 56%, p = 0.0047).SignificanceKetamine appears to be a relatively effective and safe drug for the treatment of RSE. This retrospective series provides preliminary data on effective dose and appropriate time of intervention to aid in the design of a prospective trial to further define the role of ketamine in the treatment of RSE.Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2013 International League Against Epilepsy.

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