Consultation-liaison service for epilepsy inpatients at an acute care hospital

Abstract

Objective: Our aim was to examine 1-year results of consultation-liaison service for referred epilepsy inpatients at an acute care general hospital. Methods: A retrospective review of medical records was conducted for the 12 epilepsy inpatients who were referred to our department of psychiatry, Hiroshima Citizens Hospital from the other departments from April 2017 to March 2018. Results: Study subjects included 10 men and 2 women with average age of 72.8 ± 12 years. Eight patients (66.7%) were admitted to the emergency medical center due to convulsive status epilepticus. Nine patients (75%) were admitted to emergency medical center at referral. Etiological underlying diseases were residual state of cerebrovascular diseases in 6, metastatic brain tumor from lung cancer in 2, and not specified in 2 other patients. Psychiatric diagnosis of 4 patients was delirium and that of 6 patients was delirium risk state. Psychopharmacologic intervention was performed in 11 patients. Conclusion: Active intervention for delirium and delirium risk state plays an important role for consultation-liaison psychiatrists at acute care hospitals where old age epilepsy patients are frequently admitted to emergency care centers.