[Cerebrovascular accidents in childhood].

A retrospective study of acute stroke diagnosed in the last ten years (20 cases: 12 girls and 8 boys) with an incidence rate of 1.26 cases per year per 100,000 inhabitants under 15 years of age) in our health area. Average age; 7.83 years (range: 2 months to 15 years). Confirming diagnosis was performed by computerised tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, echography and/or cerebral arteriography. Ten cases of ischaemic stroke and ten of haemorrhagic stroke were catalogued. Average follow-up was 5.45 years (range: 9 months to 10.8 years). Fibromuscular dysplasia, arthritis and meningitis are predominant in ischaemic stroke etiology, there also being one case of Moya-Moya. Haemorrhagic strokes are mostly produced by arteriovenous malformation. The predominant presenting form of ischaemic stroke was hemiplegia and of haemorrhagic strokes it was intracranial hypertension. There were no deaths as a result of ischaemic accidents but three in the cerebral haemorrhage group. Treatment was surgical in two cases, embolisation in two others and medical support in the remaining sixteen. There were no cases of relapse, except in the Moya-Moya case. Clinical position and the ability to carry on day to day life were most affected in the cerebral attack cases, which would indicate ischaemic stroke recuperation is worse than that for haemorrhagic strokes.