Neonatal seizure with electrographic correlate

What it means

Neonatal seizure is a seizure type that occurs in neonatal period and is characterized by an electrographic event with sudden, repetitive, evolving stereotyped waveforms with a beginning and an end. This event can be associated or not with a clinical manifestation.

Neonatal seizures need to be considered as a special category because of biological peculiarities, such as the immaturity of the neonatal central nervous system. Therefore, seizures are defined first as an electrographic event, that can be associated or not with clinical manifestations. Seizure types are further classified following ILAE 2017 seizure classification, however awareness is not assessable in neonates. The distinction motor vs. non motor seizure is kept, but here it reflects the predominant clinical manifestation, rather than the onset of the seizure as in adult classification.

Part of the broader category