Eficacia del diazepam retrolabial en el tratamiento de la convulsión febril

background: diazepam administered rectal or intravenously constitutes the election treatment in children with febrile convulsion. some authors consider that buccal route could be more practice and effective alternative. objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of diazepam administered by buccal route in the treatment of children with febrile convulsion at the pediatric hospital of gambia, from july 2007 to july 2008. method: a randomized, parallel, unicentric, third blind clinical trial was conducted on the effectiveness of the controlled buccal diazepam with intravenous diazepam in the treatment of febrile convulsion. sixty-six children were included with convulsion and fever, older than six months and under five years old, from both sexes and with their relative informed consent. the time to reach the administration route; the relief time of convulsion once the drug was administered and the appearance of adverse reactions were determined. to the treatment group was administered buccal diazepam 0,50 mg/kg/dose and to the control group intravenous diazepam 0,25 mg/kg/dose. results: the necessary time to reach the administration route was significantly smaller for the group that received buccal diazepam and more prolonged than the one of intravenous administration. the time to which the anticonvulsant action was achieved once the drug was administered didn't vary among the two groups. diazepam administered by buccal route was well tolerated and it presented lower risk of suffering adverse reactions than intravenous one. conclusions: diazepam administered by buccal route is effective and safe to treat febrile seizures in children.