Epileptic syndromes presenting with febrile seizures.

Abstract

Seizures induced by fever (febrile seizures) are the most common type of pathological brain activity in infants and children. Febrile seizures are mostly self-limiting, isolated events with no sequel in later life. 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 including the heterogeneous group of febrile seizures plus and the syndromes of acute encephalopathy with inflammationmediated status epilepticus like FIRES (fever-induced refractory epileptic encephalopathy in school-aged children) and HHE (hemiconvulsion-hemiplegia-epilepsy syndrome).