Clinical characteristics of benign convulsions with rotavirus gastroenteritis.

Convulsions sometimes occur in infants and toddlers with mild gastroenteritis. We retrospectively investigated the hospital records of 106 patients admitted to our hospital who had rotavirus gastroenteritis from February 2002 to April 2008. There were 23 patients with convulsions, including 13 with benign convulsions, 9 with febrile seizures, and 1 with epilepsy. Gastroenteritis in patients with benign convulsions was mild from the viewpoint of body weights and serum creatinine concentrations on admission and the duration of admission. Serum Na(+) and Cl(-) concentrations of patients with benign convulsions were relatively lower than those without convulsions on admission (P = .006, and P = .008, respectively). Twelve of thirteen patients had no other seizures after oral administration of 5 mg/kg of carbamazepine, while 1 patient had 1 convulsion 15 minutes after the therapy. In conclusion, carbamazepine therapy was effective for benign convulsions with rotavirus gastroenteritis.