Relationship between clinical and electroencephalographic characteristics of febrile seizures and subsequent epilepsy

Abstract:

Objective：To investigate the electroencephalographic characteristics of febrile seizures（FS） and to indicate the relationship between abnormity of electroencephalogram（EEG） and subsequent epilepsy occurrence. Methods：Totally 165 patients with FS were referred from the outpatient and inpatient department for video-electroencephalogram（VEEG） within 7-20 d after the seizure. VEEGs were classified as paroxysmally abnormal based on the presence of spikes，sharp waves or spike-wave complexes. The relationship between paroxysmally abnormal EEG and subsequent epilepsy occurrence was discussed. Results：Of the 165 patients with FS，60（36.36%） revealed paroxysmal abnormality on VEEG and 45（75%） developed epilepsy. The abnormal rate of VEEG was closely re－lated with age，family history of EP，fever temperature，FS type，types of seizures，more than one seizure within 24 h and the duration of seizures. Of the 8 patients with generalized paroxysmal spike and wave activity，2（25%） developed epilepsy. Of the 14 patients with rolandic discharge（RD），9（64.3%） developed epilepsy. Of the 21 patients with paroxysms in the occipital region，18（85.7%） developed epilepsy. Of the 17 patients with paroxysms in the frontal region，16（94.1%） developed epilepsy. Compared with general－ized EEG foci，the relative risk（RR） for patients with frontal EEG foci was 48.0. Patients with frontal EEG paroxysms had signifi－cantly higher risk of developing epilepsy than those with paroxysms in other regions of EEG foci（P=0.003）. Conclusion：These find－ings suggest that patients with FS presenting frontal paroxysmal EEG abnormalities may be at risk for epilepsy.