Clinico-Epidemiological Profile, Etiology, and Imaging in Neonatal Stroke: An Observational Study from Eastern India

The aim of this study was to assess the clinico-epidemiological profile, etiology, and imaging findings in neonatal stroke (NS).

This was a retrospective, observational study on neonates presenting with stroke between August 2014 and July 2016 to a tertiary care hospital in eastern India.

In all, 43 neonates were analyzed, with a male-to-female ratio of 2.3:1. About 88% babies were born at term and the rest were preterm. In 37%, the etiology of stroke was related to hypoxic injury, 21% had sepsis, and 35% had idiopathic causes. Seizures were the most common mode of presentation (62%) followed by poor feeding, abnormal tone, recurrent apnea, encephalopathy, and hemiparesis. There was an almost equal prevalence of ischemic stroke (53%) and hemorrhagic stroke (HS). Middle cerebral artery territory was the primary site of involvement in arterial ischemic stroke, and intra ventricular hemorrhage was the most common presentation of HS.

NS is an acute emergency with high morbidity and mortality. Magnetic resonance imaging helps in diagnosis and prognostication in the absence or paucity of focal neurological signs in neonates.