Diagnostics and treatment of children with acute seizures on paediatric intensive care unit.

218 children were admitted to paediatric clinic for acute seizures within last 5 years. Out of them, 14 children (7%) were admitted to paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) with repeated or prolonged seizures. Two children were hospitalized twice. The average age of children in time of admission was 12 months, most of the children were healthy before admission, had normal psychomotor development. The most frequent seizure manifestation was asymmetric clonic seizure. Hypoventilation and/or unconsciousness was the most frequent indication for PICU admission in addition to seizures. Febrile seizure was the most frequent diagnosis in children with shorter or less frequent episodes of seizure. Children with severe course and pharmacoresistant seizure were likely to have genetic diagnosis. The MRI scan was normal in most of the children, interictal EEG was mostly without specific finding. Midazolam was the first lime anticonvulsive medication used in most of the children, while phenobarbital, levetiracetam or phenytoin were the preferred second line drugs. Keywords: acute seizures, asymmetric clonic seizure, febrile seizure, children, paediatric intensive care unit.