The specific features and pattern of febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome (FIRES) in children

Abstract

The paper considers the etiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentations, diagnosis and treatment in children with febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome (FIRES) and the aspects of identifying this disease as an individual nosological entity. It details a study of the possible etiological factors of FIRES, such as metabolic, genetic, and immunological disorders, aseptic inflammatory processes, as well as a search for a certain infectious agent by inoculations of different biological environments of the body and by polymerase chain reaction; the diagnostic characteristics of FIRES at the present stage, including the use of electroencephalography, positron emission tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging; different approaches to drug therapy for FIRES at the onset stages of its clinical manifestations, protracted status epilepticus, and drugresistant epilepsy. The issues of the predictable outcome of this disease, including survival and the probability of further development of epilepsy and maintenance of cognitive functions, are also viewed. Diagnostic criteria for the syndrome, such as age at its onset 3 to 15 years in previously healthy children; acute onset as fever to develop high-frequency focal seizures several days later; the absence of the identified disease pathogen detected by the examinations of cerebrospinal fluid, serum, and other environments of the body; the development of drug-resistant epilepsy and severe permanent cognitive and motor deficits after the completion of an acute period in most cases are presented. The paper is clinically exemplified by the authors’ observation of an 11-year-old boy who meets the above criteria for the syndrome, but has a relatively favorable course, without developing severe drug-resistant epilepsy.