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Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) accounts for an estimated 5.2% of all epilepsy-related deaths, and the risk for patients 21 to 40 years of age is almost 24 times that in general population.1 Patients with severe treatment-resistant epilepsy face an exponentially increased risk with an incidence at 1 in 100 person-years.2 The presence and annual burden of generalized convulsive seizures (GCS) in the year preceding death are the biggest risk factors, posing a 27-fold increased risk.3 The Mortality in Epilepsy Monitoring Unit Study (MORTEMUS), an international retrospective review of witnessed SUDEP in epilepsy monitoring units, demonstrated that SUDEP occurred in a close proximity to GCS after which a transient cardiorespiratory dysfunction progressed to terminal apnea and cardiac arrest.4 Respiratory monitoring of patients admitted to epilepsy monitoring units identified a postictal central apnea (PCCA) in 31.2% of GCS, and a prolonged postictal generalized EEG suppression (PGES) especially seemed to facilitate PCCA.5 In addition, PCCA co-occurred with asystole at an incidence rate of 10.2 per 1,000 patient-years. PGES has been variably associated with SUDEP and linked to the presence and duration of the tonic phase of GCS and to a delayed administration of supplemental oxygen.6 Because not all convulsive seizures lead to PCCA, PGES, or SUDEP, there is a need for bedside biomarkers of PGES, dangerous respiratory dysfunction, and ultimately SUDEP risk.
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