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Infantile convulsions with mild gastroenteritis: epidemiological and clinical characteristics and outcome

T. Durá-Travé, M.E. Yoldi-Petri, T. Molins-Castiella, S. Souto-Hernández, S. Aguilera-Albesa [REV NEUROL 2010;51:12-18] PMID: 20568063 DOI: https://doi.org/10.33588/rn.5101.2010018

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Volumen 51 | Number 01 | Nº of views of the article 4.942 | Nº of PDF downloads 1.065 | Article publication date 01/07/2010

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ABSTRACT

AIM To analyse the epidemiological, clinical and developmental characteristics of a group of children with seizures associated with mild gastroenteritis in order to facilitate the diagnostic suspicion of the condition in daily clinical practice.

PATIENTS AND METHODS We conducted a retrospective review of the medical records of 24 patients who were admitted to hospital between January 2001 and December 2008 because they presented seizures associated with mild gastroenteritis: epidemiological, clinical and developmental data were collected.

RESULTS The mean age at diagnosis was 18.1 months. The female/male ratio was 2.8. The interval between the gastroenteritis and the seizure was 3.8 days. The mean rectal temperature in the seizure was 37.1 °C. The mean number of seizures per hospitalisation was 2.2. Seizures were brief (90.6% <= 5 min) and 96.8% of them were recorded as generalised. Rotavirus antigenemia in faeces was positive in 55.2% of cases. Lab findings, including the cerebrospinal fluid study, were normal. The electroencephalogram, in an immediate post-seizure situation, showed generalised and/or focal paroxysmal activity in four patients. The mean follow-up time was 4.2 years. The mean age of the group is currently 5.7 years, with normal development and level of schooling. Five patients (20.8%) had recurrences coinciding with new bouts of gastroenteritis. One patient, with a history of maternal epilepsy, was later diagnosed with focal epilepsy, and whether it can be related with the earlier presentation of seizures associated with mild gastroenteritis or not is debatable.

CONCLUSIONS Seizures in children associated with mild gastroenteritis are a well-differentiated convulsive syndrome. Prognosis is excellent, but a relatively important percentage of cases tend to have recurrences if there is a new diarrhoeic process. KeywordsMild gastroenteritis Seizures in children CategoriesEpilepsias y síndromes epilépticos

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Original

Infantile convulsions with mild gastroenteritis: epidemiological and clinical characteristics and outcome