Cerebrovascular accidents in children with cancer.

During a 4-year period, 26 children with systemic malignancies suffered cerebrovascular accidents. These occurred in 17 patients with lymphoreticular malignancy and nine patients with solid tumors. They were the presenting signs of malignancy in three patients and were the direct cause of death in six. Cerebrovascular accidents were directly related to disseminated intravascular coagulation in eight patients, to chemotherapy in eight patients, to metastatic tumor in three patients, to thrombocytopenia in three patients, and to fungal meningitis in one patient. All patients with disseminated intravascular coagulation had leukemia and at times, cerebrovascular thrombosis predated systemic or laboratory evidence of disseminated intravascular coagulation. This review indicates that four major syndromes are apparent in children with cancer: vascular thrombosis associated with disseminated intravascular coagulation, acute arterial or sagittal sinus thrombosis secondary to L-asparaginase in children with leukemia, acute neurologic dysfunction in patients with osteogenic sarcoma treated with high-dose methotrexate, and obtundation, seizures, and focal neurologic deficits in patients with neuroblastoma metastatic to the torcular region. Although elevated WBC counts and thrombocytopenia occur frequently in children with cancer, in themselves they uncommonly result in strokes. It is concluded that cerebrovascular accidents are a relatively frequent cause of acute neurologic compromise in children with cancer and that certain types of malignancies and their treatment predispose patients to this complication.