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Acute stroke in the burn patient
Yen-Hsun Lee1, Chung-Lin Chen, Shin-Chen Pan
1Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan ROC.
Insights
A severe burn injury in a child led to a stroke caused by carotid artery dissection. This rare complication can occur even after the initial burn recovery phase.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Medicine
- Neurology
- Burn Injury Management
Background:
- Severe burn injuries in children require extensive medical intervention.
- Post-burn complications can manifest weeks or months after the initial injury.
- Cerebral vascular events are a rare but serious concern in pediatric burn patients.
Observation:
- A 3-year-old boy with a 62% total body surface area burn developed acute right-sided hemiparesis 7 days post-discharge.
- Imaging revealed a left middle cerebral artery territory infarction.
- Magnetic resonance angiography showed nonvisualization and thickened walls of the left distal intracranial carotid and proximal middle cerebral arteries, indicating acute dissection.
Findings:
- Follow-up imaging 10 years later confirmed persistently thickened arterial walls, consistent with old dissection.
- The patient's stroke was attributed to carotid artery dissection secondary to the burn injury.
- This case highlights a delayed neurological complication in pediatric burn survivors.
Implications:
- Carotid artery dissection should be considered in the differential diagnosis of acute stroke in pediatric burn patients.
- Neurological monitoring may be warranted during the recovery phase of severe burn injuries.
- Understanding rare vascular complications is crucial for comprehensive pediatric burn care and long-term outcomes.
Abstract:
A 3-year-old boy was brought to our hospital with 62% TBSA burn injury by boiled water. He received modern burn therapy, including early débridment and skin grafts. The patient discharged 70 days after being burned. Unfortunately, he sustained an acute right-sided hemiparesis 7 days after discharge. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed left middle cerebral artery territory infarction, and a magnetic resonance angiogram showed nonvisualization of left distal intra-cranial carotid artery and proximal middle cerebral artery. Thickened walls of these arteries indicated acute dissection. The patient received a follow-up magnetic resonance angiogram study 10 years later to check cerebral vascular lesions that may not have been apparent on the original image studies. It showed only persistently thickened left distal intra-cranial carotid artery and middle cerebral artery walls, indicative of old dissection. Therefore, carotid artery dissection must be considered as one cause of acute stroke in pediatric burn patient, even in the recovery phase of burn injury.
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