Deep brain stimulation for the treatment of refractory and super-refractory status epilepticus

Status epilepticus (SE) and super-refractory status epilepticus (SRSE) are life-threatening medical emergencies. The first-line treatment for SE or SRSE includes i. v. anesthetic agents with respiratory support, AEDs, and steroids. Surgical interventions are indicated if medical treatments fail to abrupt the seizures. Apart from resective epilepsy surgery employed for the treatment of SE and SRSE, deep brain stimulation (DBS) of thalamic nuclei is aimed at directly influencing the brain function.

The main objective of this review is to present the efficacy and safety of DBS in SE and SRSE in humans.

We performed the literature search regarding DBS therapy in the treatment of SE and SRSE. All manuscripts written in English have been analyzed and included in this review.

We were able to find 7 case reports describing DBS outcomes for the treatment of SE or SRSE in 8 patients. Six patients operated for SE or SRSE gained a significant seizure reduction or total abolition of seizures. One patient due to an infection and the other one due to a stimulation-related adverse event required the total DBS hardware removal.

Case reports suggest that DBS can be considered as one of the treatment choices in SE and SRSE cases. A small number of treated cases and various thalamic nuclei targeted by DBS electrodes preclude drawing definitive conclusions. It can be speculated that a shorter duration of refractory SE or SRSE before a DBS procedure may efficiently reduce seizure frequency.