부산대학교 도서관

Two asthmatic children who developed status epilepticus during theophylline treatment followed by semicoma were reported. They suffered from severe neurological sequelae. A two- year- old male received oral maintenance theophylline therapy and a four-year-old male received intravenous theophylline therapy at the time of seizures. Theophylline blood levels measured several hours after the onset of seizures were within or below the therapeutic level 12.7 and 8.8μg/ml. They had febrile convulsions prior to the onset of episode and one of them was mildly delayed in psychomotor development. Brain CT scans showed diffuse cortical low- density in the acute period. Follow up CT scans revealed progressive cortical low- density in the subacute period and subsequently reached to the peak in the 10th day and 19th day of illness respectively. We consider that the progressive and long-lasting severe cortical edema on brain CT scan is characteristic of theophylline-associated encephalopathy.