The clinical characteristics of posttraumatic epilepsy following moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury in children.

Purpose: Children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) are at increased risk of posttraumatic epilepsy (PTE); the risk increases according to TBI severity. We examined the long-term incidence and risk factors for developing PTE in a cohort of children hospitalised at one medical centre with moderate or severe TBI.

Methods: Moderate brain injury was classified as Glasgow Coma Score on Arrival (GCSOA) of 9-13, and severe brain injury as GCSOA ≤8.

Prolonged febrile seizures, clinical characteristics, and acute management.

Purpose: Prolonged febrile seizures (PFS) lasting ≥15 min have been associated with increased risk for epilepsy in later life. Initial treatment, mostly prehospital, aims to prevent its evolution to febrile status epilepticus (FSE) and reduce adverse outcome. Paucity of information is available on the immediate treatment before reaching a hospital facility.

Steroids for deteriorating herpes simplex virus encephalitis.

A 16-month-old girl presented with herpes simplex virus type 1 encephalitis with involvement of bilateral parietofrontal lobes, left thalamus and cerebellum. She was treated with intravenous acyclovir. As her condition deteriorated, high-dose methylprednisolone was administered, resulting in remarkable improvement.

Overuse of EEG in the evaluation of common neurologic conditions.

The objective of the present study was to analyze the diagnostic indications that most often prompt the referral of children and adolescents in the outpatient clinical pediatric practice for electroencephalographic evaluation and to check its utility in these clinical conditions. The electroencephalographic records of 547 consecutive children and adolescents (5-16 years of age) referred to a single community laboratory for the evaluation of various neurologic disorders were prospectively read by a single blinded investigator. Common diagnostic indications included the following: clinical seizures (42%), attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (23%), headaches (10.