Anesthetic experience for performing a cesarean section for a woman with refractory status epilepticus: A case report

Choi, Youn Hee; Kim, Yoon Hee; Pak, Hae Jin; Choi, Guen Seok; Hong, Boo Hwi

Case Report

Obstetric Anesthesia

Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2011;6(2):178-181.
Published online April 30, 2011.

Anesthetic experience for performing a cesarean section for a woman with refractory status epilepticus: A case report

Youn Hee Choi, Yoon Hee Kim, Hae Jin Pak, Guen Seok Choi, Boo Hwi Hong

Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea. yhkim0404@cnu.ac.kr

Abstract

The occurrence of seizure increases 15-30% in women who become pregnant while being treated for epilepsy, due to pharmacological changes in the antiepileptic drugs and, changes in the emotional status and hormones. It is reported that 1-2% of pregnant women experience status epilepticus. When refractory status epilepticus occurs in a pregnant woman, parturition may be an important method of treatment. We report here on a case of a 28 weeks pregnant woman who had epilepsy for 21 years and she had status epilepticus in a refractory status and so she underwent general anesthesia for cesarean section.

Key Words: Cesarean section, Pregnancy, Refractory status epilepticus