Metabolic encephalopathies in children

Abstract

Encephalopathies in children arise from an array of sources. Intoxication from accidental ingestion can produce a profound encephalopathy that clears almost as quickly as it appears. The encephalopathy of septic shock is under-appreciated, yet the brain should be counted among organs shut down, almost always temporarily, in children with multiple organ failure. The child's brain is fairly resilient in the face of many of these entities, except rarely in the face of meningitis, but even here severe long-term damage seems to result only from the rare misdiagnosed or under-treated case.