Lack of neuronal damage in atypical absence status epilepticus.

PURPOSE: Whether status epilepticus of nonconvulsive epileptic seizures is harmful still remains controversial. To investigate this, the presence and/or extent of neuronal damage in patients with absence status epilepticus (ASE) and patients with complex partial status epilepticus (CPSE) was examined and compared.
METHODS: Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in CSF was examined in the patients with ASE and compared with that of the patients having CPSE. Clinical aspects of these patients also were investigated.
RESULTS: CSF NSE levels in ASE patients were lower than those of CPSE patients and were considered as the normal values. No clinical symptoms indicated neuronal damage in the ASE patients.
CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that ASE does not induce neuronal damage. Serum NSE is not always correlated to CSF NSE, and determination of serum NSE levels may be an inappropriate method of estimating neuronal damage in some cases of ASE.