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Seizures in pregnancy/eclampsia

Latha Ganti Stead1

  • 1Division of Clinical Research, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, 1329 SW 16th Street, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA. lstead@ufl.edu

Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America
|November 27, 2010
PubMed

The physical and emotional stress of pregnancy can precipitate new-onset seizures in a woman. In these cases, emergency department evaluations must rule out underlying pathology. Careful consideration of antiepileptic drug use must be considered in the first trimester as all antiepileptic drugs have been linked to some teratogenic effect. Eclampsia must always be considered in the pregnant woman who is more than 20 weeks gestation; 25% of eclamptic seizures occur in the postpartum period. Magnesium is the recommended treatment for eclamptic seizures when delivery is not possible.

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