Post–COVID‐19 inflammatory syndrome manifesting as refractory status epilepticus
Elizabeth Carroll, Henry Neumann, Maria E. Aguero‐Rosenfeld, Jennifer Lighter, Barry Czeisler, Kara Melmed, Ariane Lewis
Abstract
There have been multiple descriptions of seizures during the acute infectious period in patients with COVID-19. However, there have been no reports of status epilepticus after recovery from COVID-19 infection. Herein, we discuss a patient with refractory status epilepticus 6 weeks after initial infection with COVID-19. Extensive workup demonstrated elevated inflammatory markers, recurrence of a positive nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction, and hippocampal atrophy. Postinfectious inflammation may have triggered refractory status epilepticus in a manner similar to the multisystemic inflammatory syndrome observed in children after COVID-19.