Stroke in Children and Adolescents

Objectives . To perform a comparative analysis of symptoms in arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) and stroke-like conditions in children and to develop and analyze the Suspected Stroke Scale in Children for prehospital diagnosis of AIS in children (referred to as the Scale). Materials and methods . Emergency hospitalizations of children at the Stroke Center with suspected cerebrovascular pathology were analyzed. Symptoms detected in patients with suspected AIS were analyzed, referral and final diagnoses were compared, and the main maskers of stroke and their symptomatologies were identified. Data were compared with results obtained at an earlier phase in this research. Results . The study results suggest a predominance of motor and coordination disorders in AIS and cerebral symptoms in stroke-like conditions in children. The most common stroke masker was migraine. The study results led to proposal of the Scale, and preliminary assessment of the effectiveness of the Scale was carried out using examples of confirmed cases of AIS and stroke maskers. Conclusions . Prompt hospitalization of children with AIS can not only reduce mortality, but also allows up-to-date diagnostic and treatment methods to be used to reduce the extent of brain damage and provide the opportunity for complete restoration of motor and cognitive functions. Further analysis of the sensitivity and specificity of the proposed Scale is needed.