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Fever and fever‐related epilepsies
Author(s) -
Cross J. Helen
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
epilepsia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.687
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1528-1167
pISSN - 0013-9580
DOI - 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2012.03608.x
Subject(s) - etiology , epilepsy , febrile seizure , medicine , intensive care medicine , presentation (obstetrics) , pediatrics , limiting , psychiatry , surgery , mechanical engineering , engineering
Summary Febrile seizures are a common emergency faced by general pediatricians. They are mostly self‐limiting, isolated events with no sequelae in later life. A minority are more complex. In the acute stage, there are a small number of underlying etiologies that are important to recognize in order to determine the prognosis accurately and to optimize management. There has been a long‐standing debate about the relationship of early febrile seizures to the later development of epilepsy. It is now clear that this risk differs for simple and complex febrile seizures: complex febrile seizures may herald the presentation of a number of epilepsy syndromes of which febrile and illness‐related seizures are part of the phenotype. This review examines the existing knowledge on febrile seizures and the various clinical phenotypes to which they are linked.