Clinical and Paraclinical Findings of Cerebrovascular Accidents in Children Admitted to Pediatric Medical Center from 1993 till 2003

Stroke is a clinical diagnosis which brings up cerebrovascular diseases. Stroke includes any cerebrovascular accident which leads to local neural defect and lasts more than 24 hours. Stroke has severe and irreversible complications and high rates of recurrence after first episode, therefore we decided to study clinical and paraclinical findings of this disease for better diagnosis and prevention of it. We prepared a case series study to review medical files of the patients admitted to pediatric medical center with the diagnosis of CVA between 1993 and 2003. 19 patients were assessed in this study. Their mean age was 5.72 (SD=3.801). Among clinical signs hemiparesis was the most common finding (89.5%). Vital signs were normal except for two patients with low-grade fever or hypertension. Such cardiac diseases as cardiomyopathy, valvular disorder, d-TGA, and congestive heart failure were common predisposing factors. According to CT scan reports, 6 patients (31.6%) suffered from deep ischemic stroke, and 5 (21.3%), and 2 patients (10.5%) suffered from superficial ischemic stroke and and hemorrhagic stroke, respectively. 2 patients manifested signs of both superficial and deep ischemic stroke. One of them suffered from Moyamoys syndrome and the other was a known case of MELAS (mitochondrial encepholomyopaty lactic acidosis syndrome). CBC was the most important abnormal test. According to this study, congenital heart diseases are the most common cause of stroke in children. Stroke in children is not frequently associated with vital signs change, and deep ischemic stroke is the most common type of the stroke in children.