A 20-month-old with fever and a brief generalized seizure; which description best fits this event?

A 20-month-old with fever and a brief generalized seizure; which description best fits this event?

• A. Absence Seizures
• B. Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome
• C. Febrile Seizures
• D. Infantile Spasms

Answer: (C)

Febrile seizures are the seizure type most likely in young children during a fever, typically between 6 months and 5 years old. A 20-month-old with fever who has a brief generalized seizure fits this pattern: a generalized tonic-clonic event that lasts only a short time and occurs in the context of fever, with no ongoing neurologic deficits between events. This describes a simple febrile seizure, which is usually benign and not associated with intracranial infection when the exam is otherwise normal. By comparison, absence seizures are brief staring spells without fever and usually begin after early childhood, with characteristic EEG findings and different clinical features. Lennox-Gastaut syndrome involves multiple seizure types, cognitive impairment, and a distinct EEG pattern, not just a single brief febrile event. Infantile spasms occur much earlier, typically before age one, with sudden contractions and a distinctive EEG pattern, often with developmental regression.

Febrile seizures are the seizure type most likely in young children during a fever, typically between 6 months and 5 years old. A 20-month-old with fever who has a brief generalized seizure fits this pattern: a generalized tonic-clonic event that lasts only a short time and occurs in the context of fever, with no ongoing neurologic deficits between events. This describes a simple febrile seizure, which is usually benign and not associated with intracranial infection when the exam is otherwise normal.

By comparison, absence seizures are brief staring spells without fever and usually begin after early childhood, with characteristic EEG findings and different clinical features. Lennox-Gastaut syndrome involves multiple seizure types, cognitive impairment, and a distinct EEG pattern, not just a single brief febrile event. Infantile spasms occur much earlier, typically before age one, with sudden contractions and a distinctive EEG pattern, often with developmental regression.