The STESS reliably identifies SE patients who will survive. Early aggressive treatment could not be routinely warranted in patients with a favorable STESS, who will almost certainly survive their SE episode. A randomized trial using this score would be needed to confirm this hypothesis.

Although undersampled, this trial shows significantly longer mechanical ventilation with barbiturates and the occurrence of severe treatment-related complications in both arms. We describe practical issues necessary for the success of future studies needed to improve the current unsatisfactory state of evidence.

Spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) is a rare and often underdiagnosed condition, which commonly results from a cerebrospinal fluid leak. The classic clinical presentation of SIH is a postural headache and dizziness. Less frequent complications include nausea, neck stiffness, and even coma. This case report describes a 70-year-old woman with an initial complaint of postural headaches and sleep attacks, who developed a 22-month progressive history of personality and behavioral changes, cognitive decline, urinary incontinence, chorea, and dysarthria. Although no specific cerebrospinal fluid leak was identified, the patient was suspected of having SIH and her symptoms completely reversed after a 2-month course of steroids. This case highlights that SIH represents a rare and reversible cause of a wide spectrum of neurological symptoms, including dementia. Neurologists should be aware of this diagnosis when evaluating patients with neurological signs and symptoms that cannot otherwise be explained.