Can traumatic brain injury or high fever cause epilepsy?

  Cranial trauma is an important cause of epilepsy. The risk of developing epilepsy depends on the location and severity of the trauma. In the first year after trauma, the risk of epilepsy is 30 times higher for severe trauma than for minor trauma. Open head trauma is more likely to develop epilepsy later than closed head trauma. For post-traumatic epilepsy, the first seizure occurs within 1 year after trauma in 50% to 60% of patients, and within 2 years after trauma in 85% of patients; the early appearance of seizures after craniocerebral trauma suggests an increased risk of later epilepsy.  In clinical practice, parents often ask doctors anxiously, “Doctor, the child’s fever has reached 39 degrees, let’s get a fever reduction injection, if we don’t lower the temperature, the child will be burned silly, right? “. So can fever really make children stupid? Is there any relationship between fever and epilepsy?  Fever is when the body temperature rises above the normal range (usually the axillary temperature exceeds 37.5℃) under the action of a thermogenic source or when the thermoregulatory center is dysfunctional due to various reasons. Clinical causes of fever include infectious (viral, bacterial, fungal, etc.) and non-infectious (tissue necrosis, tumor, leukemia, etc.) factors. Generally, when the body temperature is around 38.0℃, the febrile response is a protective reaction of the body and does not cause damage to the body without special treatment, and can be treated symptomatically by drinking more water, taking warm baths or oral Chinese medicine, etc. Most of the body temperature can be reduced to the normal range; if the fever is repeated, it is necessary to determine the nature and location of the child’s infection based on physical examination, and blood tests such as routine and CRP, and to choose If the fever recurs, the nature and location of the infection should be determined based on physical examination, blood tests, CRP and other tests, and treatment should be selected accordingly. Most children can recover after treatment.  However, in reality, there are some children who have fever and then become unconscious or have seizures. This is because clinically, depending on the pathogenic bacteria that attack the body, the child’s low immunity, and whether the treatment is standardized and timely, it is possible that in addition to fever, the pathogenic bacteria also cause central nervous system infection, which is an important risk factor for epilepsy, and when the infection severely affects the brain parenchyma, it can lead to different functional disorders, and in severe cases, cognitive impairment, limb paralysis, cerebral plexus, and seizures. In addition, when the infection severely affects the brain parenchyma, it can lead to different dysfunctions, including cognitive impairment, limb paralysis, hydrocephalus and other sequelae. In some studies, the risk of epilepsy in patients with encephalitis or meningitis is 7 times higher than in the general population, and the risk of epilepsy is highest within 5 years after infection.  Febrile convulsions are common seizure disorders in children, referring to seizures induced by fever above 38°C. The age of seizures typically ranges from 6 months to 5 years, with a peak age of 18 to 24 months, with age-dependent and significant genetic susceptibility. The general diagnosis requires exclusion of intracranial infection or evidence of other causes and exclusion of children with or without a prior history of febrile convulsions. Usually about 60% of convulsions occur within the first 24 hours of fever. Febrile convulsions are classified into simple and complex febrile convulsions based on the duration of the fever (whether it is >15 minutes), the type of seizure (generalized, focal), and the number of convulsive episodes in 24 hours. Overall, 3% of children with febrile convulsions will later develop fever-free convulsions and epilepsy, and if one of the 3 risk factors (prolonged, recurrent, and focal febrile convulsions) is present, the risk of developing fever-free The risk of febrile seizures and epilepsy is 6% to 8% if one of the 3 risk factors (prolonged, recurrent and focal febrile convulsions) is present, while the risk rises to 50% if all 3 risk factors are present, and febrile seizures can occur months to more than 20-30 years after the first febrile convulsion.  Thus, it is important to distinguish between febrile convulsions and those accompanied by fever (e.g., meningitis, encephalitis, cerebral palsy with infection, and metabolic disease), and it is especially important to perform a lumbar puncture to clarify the diagnosis in children under 1 year of age who have febrile convulsions.