University of Utah Healthcare

Ketamine in Established Status Epilepticus Treatment Trial (KESETT) 

Seizures are a medical emergency that can occur in children and adults. Most seizures are short and stop on their own. These are scary, but are not usually dangerous. Prolonged seizures that do not stop on their own, however, are dangerous and may be life-threatening. Paramedics and emergency doctors give a class of medicines called benzodiazepines to stop prolonged seizures. This usually works but in one or two out of every five patients with prolonged seizures, additional medicines are needed to stop the seizures. Several additional medicines can be used by paramedics and emergency doctors to stop prolonged seizures, but it is unknown which medications work best. We are performing a study to learn if a combination of two existing anti-seizure medicines will stop seizures better than just the medicine most commonly used. Everyone enrolled in the study will receive the most common drug used, levetiracetam, and two thirds of the people enrolled will be given the drug in combination with ketamine. The study is called KESETT. This study is being performed at hospitals around the country in both children and adults, including University of Utah Healthcare in your community.   

In patients who continue to have seizures, additional medications to try to stop the seizures must be given as soon as possible after arrival in the emergency department.  People included in KESETT are unconscious because of their seizure, and so cannot be asked about their consent to be in a study. Therefore, this emergency study will enroll participants without their consent.  

This study is being conducted at about 60 sites across the US and will enroll no more than 770 people. 

Do you have any comments you would like to tell the researchers about this study?  We would value your feedback via the link below.  Your feedback will remain confidential.