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PEDIATRICS Vol. 111 No. 1 January 2003, pp. 1-5

The Role of Emergent Neuroimaging in Children With New-Onset Afebrile Seizures

Sujit Sharma, MD*, James J. Riviello, MD§, Marvin B. Harper, MD{ddagger} and Marc N. Baskin, MD{ddagger}

* Department of Emergency Medicine, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite, Atlanta, Georgia
{ddagger} Divisions of Emergency Medicine
§ Neurology, Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

--> Objectives. The objectives of this study were 1) to determine the frequency of clinically significant abnormal neuroimaging in children coming to the emergency department (ED) with new-onset afebrile seizures (ASZ), and 2) to identify children at high or low risk for clinically significant abnormal neuroimaging.

Design/Methods. Five hundred consecutive cases of new-onset ASZ seen in the ED of a tertiary care children’s hospital were reviewed. Neuroimaging reports were categorized as normal, clinically insignificant abnormal, or clinically significant abnormal. Recursive partition analysis was used to identify clinical variables that separated children into high- and low-risk groups for clinically significant abnormal neuroimaging.

Results. Ninety-five percent of patients (475/500) with new-onset ASZ had neuroimaging. Clinically significant abnormal neuroimaging was noted in 8% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6, 11; 38/475) of patients. Recursive partition analysis identified 2 criteria associated with high risk for clinically significant abnormal neuroimaging: 1) the presence of a predisposing condition, and 2) focal seizure if <33 months old. Of the high-risk patients, 26% (95% CI: 17, 35; 32/121) had clinically significant abnormal neuroimaging compared with 2% (95% CI: 0.6, 3.7; 6/354) in the low-risk group.

Conclusions. In this large, retrospective review of children with new-onset ASZ, clinically significant abnormal neuroimaging occurred with relatively low frequency. Emergent neuroimaging should be considered, however, for children who meet high-risk criteria. Well-appearing children who meet low-risk criteria can be safely discharged from the ED (if follow-up can be assured) without emergent neuroimaging, because their risk for clinically significant abnormal neuroimaging is appreciably lower.

Key Words: afebrile seizures • children • evaluation • neuroimaging • computed tomography

Abbreviations: ED, emergency department • ASZ, afebrile seizures • CT, computed tomography • MRI, magnetic resonance imaging • CI, confidence interval

Received for publication Feb 5, 2002; Accepted May 14, 2002.


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