Hi, this is Tom, and in this episode I'm going to be going through febrile convulsions.

And you can find notes at zero to finals.com slash febrile convulsions

and in the zero to finals pediatrics book.

And if you're preparing for any examin medical school but particularly medical school finals,

check out the zero to finals finals revision book, which is available at zero to finals shop.com.

So let's jump straight in.

Feebral convulsions are a type of seizure that occur in children who have a high fever.

They're not caused by epilepsy or underlying brain pathology.

Fibral convulsions only occur in children between the ages of six months and five years.

Young children have a lower seizure threshold.

A high temperature, for example above 38 degrees Celsius, can stimulate excessive neuronal

firing leading to a seizure.

Let's talk about simple febrile convulsions.

Simple febrile convulsions. Simple febrile convulsions are generalised tonic clonic seizures. They last less than 15 minutes and they only occur once during a single

febrile illness. Let's talk about complex febrile convulsions. Complex feebral convulsions involve any of the

following. Partial or focal seizures, seizures that last more than 15 minutes, or more than one seizure

during the same fibral illness.

Let's go through the presentation.

A typical presentation of a fibral convulsion is a child aged around 18 months

with a two to five minute tonic chronic seizure that occurs during a high fever. The fever is usually caused by an

underlying viral infection, for example, roseola, or bacterial infection, for example, tonsillitis.

Let's talk about making the diagnosis.

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