Elevated blood ammonia levels may help differentiate epileptic generalized convulsive seizures (GCS) from other events, suggests a recent report in Epilepsia. When Rawan Albadareen and associates measured blood ammonia levels in 78 patients with GCS, psychogenic nonepileptic seizures with convulsions (PNES-C), or focal seizures using video–electroencephalography (vEEG) monitoring, they discovered that ammonia levels at or above 80 μmol/L could classify generalized convulsive seizures in 80% of patients with a sensitivity of 53.9% and specificity of 100%. Their findings suggest that transient hyperammonemia may serve as an inexpensive test for the diagnosis of GCS.
Albadareen R, Gronseth G, Landazuri P, et al. Postictal ammonia as a biomarker for electrographic convulsive seizures: a prospective study. Epilepsia. 2016;57(8): 1221-1227.
