Phenobarbital and midazolam suppress neonatal seizures in a noninvasive rat model of birth asphyxia, whereas bumetanide is ineffective

Efficacy of phenobarbital in neonatal seizures.

A retrospective study of neonatal seizures in a tertiary care neonatal intensive care unit determined a 3.2% incidence, and confirmed the relatively poor efficacy of the traditional anticonvulsants phenobarbital and phenytoin. Only 33% responded to an initial adequate loading dose of phenobarbital, while 56% responded to either or both anticonvulsants. Although multifocal clonic seizures were m...

Birth asphyxia, Apgar score and neonatal encephalopathy.

As infant mortality rates decline steadily in South Asia, largely through a fall in post-neonatal mortality, increasing attention is turning to the perinatal period(l). Many studies in this region have demonstrated birth asphyxia to be a major cause of perinatal death(2). However, the contribution of birth asphyxia to the burden of neurodisability in developing country populations is still to b...

Bumetanide for neonatal seizures: Based on evidence or enthusiasm?

Seizures in the neonatal period are serious events associated with high morbidity and mortality. A major clinical problem is that neonatal epileptic seizure activity shows only limited response to the commonly used anticonvulsant drugs. Consequently, the optimal treatment of neonatal seizures (NSs) is currently a highly prioritized issue (Silverstein et al., 2008). There is not only a lack of w...

Midazolam for treatment of refractory neonatal seizures. A case report.

Midazolam is a short-acting water soluble benzodiazepine that has been used with an increasing frequency in the last years. Although there are reports on its use in status epilepticus, there is none in the neonatal period. A pre-term (35 w) AGA newborn infant with a severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy secondary to grade III hyaline membrane disease developed status epilepticus in the first 6...

Phenobarbital for Neonatal Seizures: A Time for Perusal.