Benign Convulsion with Mild Gastroenteritis

Abstract

Benign convulsion with mild gastroenteritis is now recognized among Japanese pediatric neurologist as a distinct clinical entity, characterized by recurrent brief non-febrile seizures clustering around the onset of viral gastroenteritis in a previously healthy infants and children, and the prognosis is always good. We reviewed the clinical profiles of 14 patients, showing similar clinical manifestations described in the Japanese literature, admitted to Dept. of Pediatrics Ajou University Hospital from June 1994 to December 1995. In our series, the severity of the gastroenteritis was very mild in all the cases. Seizures usually occurred between the first and third day of mild gastroenteritis, but four of 14 patients had convulsions before the onset of gastroenteritis. Overall, seizures were mostly brief and frequently repetitive occurring in cluster(51 seizures/14 patients). The seizure type was exclusively generalized tonic or/and clonic seizure. None experienced recurrent episodes of non-febrile seizures during follow-up. These findings suggest that benign convulsion with mild gastroenteritis is a clinically distinct situation related convulsion.