[Nonconvulsive status epilepticus: clinical practice and pathophysiology]

The clinical spectrum of nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) is rapidly expanding from classical manifestations, such as staring, repetitive blinking, chewing, swallowing, and automatism to novel manifestations, such as acute and protracted coma, apnea, cognitive impairment, higher brain dysfunction, and cardiac arrest. It is only in the last decade that these novel NCSE manifestations have been revealed, which is certainly reflective of modern advances in critical care neurology, such as the introduction and spread of continuous electroencephalography (cEEG) monitoring. Although NCSE is a relatively frequent, treatable condition but with a high mortality rate, physicians are still unfamiliar with its clinical manifestations, thus leading to underdiagnosis. In this review, the clinical manifestations, epidemiology, diagnosis, and management of NCSE are critically described using the best available evidence and perspectives, including my hypothesis on epileptic organ dysfunction; in particular, the possible causal relationship between NCSE and cardiac arrhythmia, such as atrial fibrillation is also discussed.