Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom, and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about

febrile convulsions.

And if you want to follow along with written notes on this topic,

you can follow along at zero definals.com slash febrile convulsions

or in the neurology section of the zero definals pediatrics book.

So let's get straight into it.

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

They're not caused by epilepsy or other neurological pathology such as meningitis or tumors.

By definition, febrile convulsions only occur in children between the ages of six months and five years. Simple febrile convulsions are generalised

tonic clonic seizures. They last less than 15 minutes and only occur once during a single febrile illness.

Feebrile convulsions can be described as complex rather than just simple febrile convulsions

when they consist of partial or focal seizures, when they last more than 15 minutes or when they occur

multiple times during the same

febrile illness. Let's talk about making a diagnosis of a febrile convulsion. In order to make

a diagnosis of a febrile convulsion, other neurological pathology must be excluded. The differential

diagnoses of febrile convulsions are epilepsy,

meningitis, encephalitis or another neurological infection such as cerebral malaria,

intracranial space-occupying lesions such as brain tumours or intracranial hemorrhage,

syncopal episodes, electrolyte abnormalities, and trauma.

And it's always worth thinking about non-accidental injury.

A typical presentation is a child around 18 months of age presenting with a 2 to 5 minute tonic

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