Cardiac Protection in Status Epilepticus

Status epilepticus (SE), characterised by prolonged or repeated seizures with incomplete recovery, is a critical neurological emergency associated with a mortality rate of approximately 20%, with generalised convulsive SE accounting for 45–74% of cases. With cardiac arrest implicated in 21.3% of SE-associated deaths, recent research has increasingly recognised the complex interplay between SE and cardiac disturbances. For instance, elevated cardiac injury markers during convulsive SE hospitalisation are linked to worsened clinical outcomes and increased mortality, emphasising the urgent need for effective cardiac management in SE patients and high-risk populations. Recent preclinical studies have explored cardioprotective interventions to mitigate cardiac complications in epilepsy. We expect that cardioprotective treatment will have an essential effect to improve altered cardiac outcomes in SE, and reduce the overall mortality during and after SE. We also expect to further verify the mechanism of cardioprotective drugs and improve our understanding of the cardiomyopathy in SE, and discover prospective therapeutic targets to manage cardiac comorbidities linked with SE.