Abstracts

Rationale: Alcohol withdrawal seizures (AWS) are one of frequent withdrawal symptoms in chronic alcoholics. Delirium tremens (DTs) is the most severe form of alcohol withdrawal manifested by rapid onset confusion and sympathetic hyperactivity, medical emergency with a high mortality rate, making early recognition and treatment essential. To predict the development of DT in patients with acute alcohol withdrawal seizure, we analyzed the clinical characteristics as well as heart rate variability(HRV). Methods: We reviewed medical records of AWS patients who were admitted to Kyung-Hee University Hospital at Gangdong or Kyung-Hee University Medical Center from Jan. 2003 to Mar. 2016. AWS was defined as seizures occur within 72hrs after the last alcohol intake without focal abnormalities on brain imaging. We analyzed their clinical, electrophysiologic and neuroradiologic features. We was obtained the HRV data from EEG test and analyzed it by using measures of time and frequency domain. Results: Among sixty four patients with AWS, fifty seven (89%) were male and seven(11%) were female and their mean age was 46.99.5years. Average amount of weekly alcohol intake was 1.20.7L and mean interval between the last alcohol consumption and symptom was 33.423.3hrs. EEG showed diffuse slowing in 26 (40.6%) patients and none showed epileptiform discharges. Fifteen of the (23.4%) patients developed delirium tremens(DT group). Female patients tend to frequently develop DT than male patients (26.7% vs 6.1%, p=0.026) and have shorter interval between last alcohol intake and seizure onset (24.521.9hrs vs 36.123.3hrs, p=0.091). There were no differences in HRV analysis between DT group and no DT group. Conclusions: Patient with DT was more common in female patients, and showed a tendency of having a shorter interval between last alcohol consumption and seizure onset. Funding: none