Acute encephalopathy in children: a serious illness after an inauspicious beginning
Plötz, F.B.; van Brakel, M.J.; Gooskens, R.H.
Nederlands Tijdschrift Voor Geneeskunde 144(33): 1569-1572
2000
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-2162 PMID: 10965363 Document Number: 521796
Three young children, 2 girls of 6 and 3.5 years and 1 boy aged 3.5 years, had complaints like vomiting and fever of what initially was thought to be a minor infection. However, their condition deteriorated within two days to such an extent that they died while being treated on the intensive care department. The rapid drop in consciousness, sometimes accompanied by convulsions, is an expression of increased intracranial pressure resulting from diffuse brain oedema, which itself is probably caused by circulating toxins. The treatment of acute toxic encephalopathy is purely symptomatic.