Acute Brain Injury in New-Onset Refractory Status Epilepticus and Etiology-Defined Status Epilepticus

How extensive is brain damage during the acute phase of new-onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE) as indexed by serum and cerebrospinal fluid levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL) and S100-beta proteins?In this cross-sectional study including 78 patients with NORSE and 2 independent cohorts of 211 and 73 patients with etiology-defined status epilepticus, NORSE was associated with extraordinarily high and rapidly accumulating neuronal injury, disproportionate to astroglial damage, and exceeding that seen in etiology-defined status epilepticus.These findings highlight the diagnostic potential of NfL as a biomarker to guide clinical management of status epilepticus, and these results support early and aggressive therapeutic strategies to extinguish NORSE.

Corresponding Author: Stefano Meletti, MD, PhD, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic, and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE), Via Giardini, 1355 – Ospedale Civile Baggiovara, 41126 Modena, Italy (stefano.meletti@unimore.it).

Link to the article in your story

We encourage you to link out to this article in your story using the link below. It includes an access token that will give free access to the article for your readers up to one year after publication. (The link will be live after the article publishes and embargo is lifted.)

Please see the article for additional information, including full author list, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

Need more information? Contact us.