Background
New-onset refractory status epilepticus, or NORSE, is a medical emergency in which a person with no clear prior epilepsy history develops continuous or repeatedly recurring seizures that do not stop with first-line treatments. A cryptogenic case, often called cNORSE, means that no cause is identified despite extensive testing. Because ongoing seizures can injure the brain, clinicians urgently need markers that show whether neuronal damage is actively happening and how severe it is.
This study focused on two blood and spinal fluid biomarkers: neurofilament light chain, or NfL, which rises when nerve cell axons are damaged, and S100-beta, or S100B, a protein associated with glial injury and blood-brain barrier disruption. The researchers asked whether these markers could distinguish cNORSE from status epilepticus with a defined cause, and from people with chronic epilepsy or no status epilepticus at all.
