Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute encephalopathy in childhood

The cardinal symptom of acute encephalopathy is impairment of consciousness of acute onset during the course of an infectious disease, with duration and severity meeting defined criteria. Acute encephalopathy consists of multiple syndromes such as acute necrotizing encephalopathy, acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion and clinically mild encephalitis/ encephalopathy with reversible splenial lesion. Among these syndromes, there are both similarities and differences. In 2016, the Japanese Society of Child Neurology published 'Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Encephalopathy in Childhood', which made recommendations and comments on the general aspects of acute encephalopathy in the first half, and on individual syndromes in the latter half. Since the guidelines were written in Japanese, this review article describes extracts from the recommendations and comments in English, in order to introduce the essence of the guidelines to international clinicians and researchers. (C) 2020 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Acute encephalopathy is characterized by an abrupt onset of impaired consciousness during an infectious disease, with various syndromes showing similarities and differences. The 2016 guidelines from the Japanese Society of Child Neurology provide recommendations and comments on the diagnosis and treatment of acute encephalopathy, aiming to introduce the essence of the guidelines to international clinicians and researchers.