LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP AND OUTCOME OF CHILDREN WITH FEBRILE SEIZURES

Febrile seizures (FS) precede the onset of various forms of epilepsy in 10%-15% of children. The risk of epilepsy in children with FS is 3% by the age of 7 years. Complex FS are associated with younger age at onset of epilepsy One-third of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy have a previous history of prolonged febrile seizures. Retrospective data analysis of patients with FS treated at our Neuropediatric Unit and Outpatient Clinic in the last 20 years revealed 880 patients with FS: simple 81.1% and recurrent /complex 18.9%. Thirty-three children had subsequent non-febrile seizures. In 23 children, epilepsy occurred 1-5 years following FS: idiopathic generalized in five, partial idiopathic or cryptogenic extratemporal in seven, temporal in two, and symptomatic partial in three children. After FS, two children had epileptic encephalopathy, two had syndromes with molecular abnormalities, and one child had Fahr disease. One girl who presented for the first time with febrile status epilepticus had Sturge-Weber syndrome. Out of 23 children with epilepsy 13 had previously had one FS episode and ten recurrent FS. Seven children had good control of epilepsy, while six children had normal intellectual development. Reviewing our 880 patients with FS revealed that 2.6% of them developed epilepsy and two of them had refractory idiopathic temporal lobe epilepsy. There was no case of hippocampal sclerosis in our children with FS and subsequent epilepsy.