34 - Pediatric Seizures

Summary

The average age of childhood status epilepticus (SE) is under 3 years old. The acute management requires a planned treatment schedule and a specific time line. The duration of SE is the greatest risk to the patient; the longer SE lasts, the more difficult it is to treat. The three goals of treatment are to control seizures, to preserve vital functions, and to diagnose the underlying pathology. Absence SE, partial absence SE, or complex partial SE may present as nonconvulsive SE. Neonatal seizures occur in patients under 29 days old, and they are usually related to significant neurological disease. Pediatric patients are unique in that several characteristic epileptic syndromes have an age-dependent appearance, one or more characteristic seizure types, a natural history, and a prognosis. Some major syndromes include febrile seizures, infantile spasms, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and benign rolandic epilepsy (BRE).