New published article: Germain et al, 2025

Congratulations to Dr. Germain and colleagues on the publication of their article on the role of early magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in predicting the risk of hippocampal sclerosis (HS) in children with febrile status epilepticus (FSE) in the journal Archives of Pediatrics. We are delighted to have been able to contribute to the success of this article!

𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐢𝐳𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 are the most common neurological disorder in children. In the United States and Europe, they affect 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝟓% 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. These seizures occur in children with a fever (>38°C), between 6 months and 5 years of age, and in the absence of central nervous system infection, metabolic disorder, or history of non-febrile seizures. FSE is the 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 of complex febrile seizure. Febrile seizures in children 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐬𝐲. Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy is among the most commonly developed types of epilepsy, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐇𝐒 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞.

International guidelines recommend 𝐌𝐑𝐈 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐒𝐄, but the modalities of this examination are poorly defined. The authors aimed to study the value of diffusion-weighted MRI during the early phase of FSE in 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐒 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐬𝐲. The results showed that this examination played a major role and that the presence of restricted diffusion areas on MRI was 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫-𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐇𝐒.

These results highlight the 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 and the need to optimize the management of children with FSE by 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐑𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐬. The article is available on the journal's website. Doi : 𝟏𝟎.𝟏𝟎𝟏𝟔/𝐣.𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐩𝐞𝐝.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒.𝟏𝟐.𝟎𝟎𝟕.