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Updated: Jun 20, 2026
Transient Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Model of Neonatal Stroke in P10 Rats
Published on: April 21, 2017
[Arterial ischaemic stroke in children with cardiac diseases]
B Huidobro-Fernández1, M M Tolín-Hernani, M Vázquez-López
1Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, España.
Insights
Pediatric stroke incidence is rising, with heart disease as a key risk factor. Delayed diagnosis and inadequate prophylaxis highlight the need for improved management strategies in children with cardiac conditions.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Pediatrics
- Cardiology
Context:
- Increasing incidence of cerebral stroke in children.
- Heart diseases are a significant risk factor for pediatric stroke.
- Need for better understanding of stroke characteristics in this population.
Purpose:
- To describe the characteristics of cerebral stroke in children with heart diseases.
- To emphasize predisposing conditions, diagnosis time, management, and follow-up.
- To analyze cardiopathy types, associated factors, clinical findings, and outcomes.
Summary:
- Retrospective study of 20 pediatric stroke patients with heart disease over 10 years.
- Congenital heart disease was prevalent; many had recent surgery/catheterization.
- Delayed diagnosis (>24h in 60%), infrequent prophylaxis, and lack of thrombolysis were noted.
Impact:
- Highlights the critical need to consider stroke in neurologically symptomatic children with heart disease.
- Underscores the necessity for optimized diagnostic strategies to reduce delays.
- Calls for randomized clinical trials to establish uniform pediatric stroke guidelines.
Introduction:
The incidence of cerebral stroke in children has significantly increased in last years. Heart diseases are one of the best known risk factors in pediatric stroke. AIM. To describe the characteristics of the cerebral stroke in children with heart diseases, emphasizing in predisposing conditions, time to diagnosis, management and follow-up of patients.
Patients And Methods:
We performed a retrospective study in children suffering from heart diseases with cerebral stroke admitted to our hospital that comprised 10 years. Type of cardiopathy, associated factors like surgery or catheterization, study of thrombophilia, clinical findings, methods and time to diagnosis, primary and secondary prophylaxis, treatment and long-term neurologic outcome were analyzed.
Results:
Twenty patients were included in our study (age: from neonatal period to 15 years), eighteen of them were children with congenital cardiac disease. Eleven patients had antecedent of surgery and/or catheterism in the previous month. The most common clinical presentation was focal seizures. Time from clinical onset to diagnosis of stroke was longer than 24 hours in 60% of our patients. Fifty per cent of our patients did not receive any primary prophylaxis. Treatment was initiated in 70% of patients, but no one received thrombolysis.
Conclusions:
It is crucial to consider stroke when children with heart diseases show any neurologic symptom. Optimal diagnostic strategies must be established to low the delay of diagnosis in these patients, as well as randomised clinical trials in order to establish uniform guidelines in pediatric stroke.
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