Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
-
Observational Study
The association between the presence and burden of periodic discharges and outcome in septic patients: an observational prospective study.
Sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE) is frequent in septic patients. Electroencephalography (EEG) is very sensitive to detect early epileptic abnormalities, such as seizures and periodic discharges (PDs), and to quantify their duration (the so-called burden). However, the prevalence of these EEG abnormalities in septic patients, as well as their effect on morbidity and mortality, are still unclear. The aims of this study were to assess whether the presence of electrographic abnormalities (i.e. the absence of reactivity, the presence and burden of seizures and PDs) was associated with functional outcome and mortality in septic patients and whether these abnormalities were associated with sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE). ⋯ Our findings suggest that PDs and PDs burden are associated with SAE and might affect outcome in septic patients.