Childhood status epilepticus and excitotoxic neuronal injury.

This report describes the case of an 11-year-old girl with a prior history of epilepsy and multiple episodes of status epilepticus who presented with generalized convulsive status epilepticus and left hemiclonic seizures. Magnetic resonance imaging, including diffusion-weighted sequences and spectroscopy, and neuropathology at autopsy were consistent with excitotoxic neuronal injury to the hippocampus, cortex, thalamus, mammillary bodies, and cerebellum. Review of the literature revealed 11 similar cases that support the hypothesis of excitotoxic neuronal cell death after status epilepticus.