Summary

• A life-threatening neurological condition defined as 30 or more minutes of either continuous seizure activity or repetitive seizures without regaining consciousness.
• Generalised convulsive status epilepticus (SE) in both its subtle and overt sub-types constitutes the most frequent variant.
• Diagnosis of non-convulsive SE can be difficult, but recognition is crucial because rapid termination helps to prevent serious brain injury, especially in patients with impaired consciousness.
• In most cases, treatment must precede any thorough investigation and must be initiated as soon as SE is suspected. Treatment is usually initiated after 5 minutes of continuous seizures.
• Treatment involves a step-wise medicine approach aimed at aborting the clinical and electrographic seizures.
• Carries a high mortality rate and may cause serious complications if not promptly treated.