The development of neurologic damage in children with complex febrile seizures can be predicted within 6 h of onset, using the identified risk factors. The authors propose an assumption of severe febrile seizures (SFS) in children who fulfill these risk factors. Using SFS as an inclusion criterion, an interventional study for acute encephalopathy can be designed.

Our multidisciplinary approach for infants with acute liver failure achieved favorable outcomes. Further investigations are needed to examine the efficacy of the artificial liver support.

Objective: Acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion (AESD) is a syndrome characterized by biphasic seizures with impaired consciousness. AESD is rare outside Asia, and consecutive cohort studies are therefore scarce. Herein, we aimed to describe the detailed characteristics of AESD, including clinical course, electroencephalogram data, laboratory data, imaging findings, treatment, and outcomes. Methods:We reviewed the clinical database and medical charts of 43 consecutive pediatric patients (<18 years old) who developed AESD between October 1, 2002, and September 30, 2019. Results: We found that AESD occurred even though patients did not develop prolonged seizures. A comparison between the two groups (first seizure duration <30 min and first seizure duration ≥30 min) revealed three main findings: first, patients with AESD who had shorter seizures had better prognosis than those with prolonged seizures; second, patients with AESD who had shorter seizures tended to have earlier occurrence of a second seizure; and third, high signal intensity on diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was observed mainly in frontal areas, not diffusely, in patients with shorter seizures, and in a broader area in patients with prolonged seizures. Conclusions: Our description of the detailed clinical picture of AESD may add new insight into its pathophysiology.

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Objective: Although the mortality among previously healthy children with acute encephalopathy (AE) is approximately 5%, their detailed clinical course has not been clarified. The objective of the present study was to describe the detailed clinical course, in minutes, of fatal AE. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of five patients (from 6 months to 14 years of age) who previously had no neurological disorders and were diagnosed with brain death due to AE between 2002 and 2018 at Kobe Children's Hospital. Results: The initial clinical symptoms were convulsion in three cases and impaired consciousness in two. The earliest noted brain imaging abnormality was 7.5 h after neurological symptom detection. Liver enzymes and creatinine levels increased at initial examination, and sodium elevated gradually. All patients met the criteria of systemic inflammatory response syndrome, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and shock within 14 h of symptom detection. High dose steroids and targeted temperature management were initiated 3.5-14 h after onset. Despite these therapies, Tomioka et al. patients were diagnosed with brain death from 16 h to 4 days after initial neurological symptoms. AE diagnoses were made between 4 h 29 min and 4 days after initial neurological symptoms and included hemorrhagic shock and encephalopathy syndromes, Reye-like syndrome, and acute necrotizing encephalopathy in two, two, and one patient(s), respectively. Conclusions: We revealed the time series' of clinical events (e.g. SIRS, shock, DIC, AE diagnosis, brain death, and treatments) and laboratory findings relative to initial neurological symptom in fatal AE.