SEIZURES IN THE NEWBORN-INFANT - DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT, AND OUTCOME

Seizures remain one of the few neonatal neurologic emergencies that ma y potentially reflect significant damage to the immature brain; diagno stic and therapeutic plans should be established promptly. The limited clinical repertoire of the neonate presents a challenge to the physic ian's evaluation of the nervous system. Environmental restrictions fur ther hamper the performance of a neonatal neurologic examination; conf inement within an isolette of an intubated infant with multiple cathet ers and the use of pharmacologic agents that alter arousal and muscle tone limit the clinician's ability to elicit the full complement of cl inical neurologic signs. Neurophysiologic monitoring therefore assumes an important ancillary role in the evaluation of the neonate with sei zures and other suspected encephalopathies.(85,97,100)