Seizures in Critical Care: A Guide to Diagnosis and Therapeutics (Current Clinical Neurology)

This fully revised second edition of Seizures in Critical Care: A Guide to Diagnosis and Therapeutics is an essential guide for ICU professionals and neurologists. Incorporating the last five years of advances in the field, this invaluable title keeps the same structure as the previous edition, with sections on epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnostic evaluation and treatment options, but includes an extra chapter on seizure monitoring in the ICU. This edition also adds a number of new sections dedicated to new treatments, such as neurostimulation, hypothermia or resection of the refractory epileptic focus and antiepileptic drugs. In addition, readers will find extra flow charts and treatment algorithms with more specific drug doses. Further, more EEGs with better explanation and labeling for the non-expert intensivist have been added to each section. Chapter authors comprise the same international group of renowned experts as in the first edition, as well as several new expert contributors. Chapters cover vital topics such as seizures in organ transplant recipients, those resulting from renal and hepatic failure, seizures related to alcohol misuse, and seizures resulting from brain injury and tumors. In all, this new and expanded edition of Seizures in Critical Care: A Guide to Diagnosis and Therapeutics fills evolving needs and entices new interest in the care of patients who suffer epileptic events. Comprehensive and indispensable for ICU professionals and neurologists, this new edition will again meet – and surpass—the need for more in-depth and specialized knowledge about seizures in critical care. The first edition of Seizures in Critical Care: A Guide to Diagnosis and Therapeutics, which appeared in 2005, filled an important need in the ar- mentarium of the neurological, neurosurgical, and medical intensivists who deal with seriously ill patients in the ICU setting. Unlike epilepsy, as it u- ally presents in the outpatient department, seizures in ICU patients are nearly always secondary phenomena that signify that something is seriously amiss in very ill patients with primary medical or surgical disease. The job of the int- sivist is to identify the cause of the seizure or seizures, examine the myriad of potential contributing factors, and provide appropriate management and tre- ment that takes all aspects of the patient's illness into consideration. As in the first edition, Dr. Varelas and his associates recognize the extreme importance of prompt recognition, diagnosis, and sophisticated management of seizures in this group of seriously ill patients. Dr. Varelas has now recollected his group of contributors and produced a new and up to date compendium of what one needs to know in order to work effectively in this difficult and demanding area. A welcome addition to the new edition is the chapter by Friedman and Hirsch on the role of continuous monitoring in the ICU which is essential for the diagnosis and treatment of nonconvulsive seizures as these may be the most common form of seizures in this setting but are often missed in the evaluation of patients in stupor or coma. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Presentation and Pathophysiology of Seizures in the Critical Care Environment: An Overview....Pages 1-20 Diagnosing and Monitoring Seizures in the ICU: The Role of Continuous EEG for Detection and Management of Seizures in Critically Ill Patients....Pages 21-47 Stroke and Critical Care Seizures....Pages 49-118 Traumatic Brain Injury and Seizures in the ICU....Pages 119-136 Brain Tumors and ICU Seizures....Pages 137-156 Global Hypoxia–Ischemia and Critical Care Seizures....Pages 157-178 Seizures in Fulminant Hepatic Failure, Multiorgan Failure, and Endocrine Crisis....Pages 179-201 Seizures in Organ Transplant Recipients....Pages 203-218 Extreme Hypertension, Eclampsia and Critical Care Seizures....Pages 219-231 Infection or Inflammation and ICU Seizures....Pages 233-261 Electrolyte Disturbances and Critical Care Seizures....Pages 263-282 Alcohol-Related Seizures in the Intensive Care Unit....Pages 283-306 Drug-Induced Seizures in Critically Ill Patients....Pages 307-340 Critical Care Seizures Related to Illicit Drugs and Toxins....Pages 341-354 Management of Status Epilepticus and Critical Care Seizures....Pages 355-422 Back Matter....Pages 423-431