Arterial Ischemic Stroke in Childhood: Clinical Experience in Latvia

  • Sandis Kovaļovs (Speaker)
  • Mikus Dīriks (Co-author)
  • Guntis Rozentāls (Co-author)

Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation

Description

Arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) is an important cause of disability and mortality during childhood with reported incidence of 1-2 cases per 100 000 children a year. Our objectives were to assess occurrence, diagnostics, clinical features, possible etiologies and used treatment of arterial ischemic stroke among Latvian children in the age group from 28 days to 18 years.. Retrospective study was conducted by analyzing medical record data from patients who were treated in Children’s Clinical University Hospital (CCUH) of Latvia in a time period from January 2012 to December 2022 with diagnosed AIS. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS.. In total, 39 cases were included (3,5±1,7SD cases per year), from whom 23,1%(N=9) were intrahospital events, 64,1%(N=25) were primarily admitted to CCUH, while 33,3%(N=13) were transferred to CCUH from regional hospitals, but 1 patient from abroad. The mean patient age at onset of stroke was 97,6±58.2SD months, 56,4%(N=22) were men and 43,6%(N=17) women. The most frequent first symptoms were hemiparesis 48,7%(N=19) or seizure 20,5%(N=8). Among cases occurring outside the hospital (76,9%,N=30), the majority (73,3%,N=22) of patients were admitted to hospital on the same day of symptom onset. Brain magnetic resonance imagining was the most used first imaging method (53,8%,N=21). Only 2 patients (5,1%) have been treated with intravenous thrombolysis and no thrombectomies have been performed. Most frequent presumed etiologies were congenital heart disease 28,2%(N=11) and cerebral arteriopathies 23,1%(N=9). Median length of hospital stay was 17(IQR=16) days.. AIS has a regular occurrence among the Latvian children population, but only few patients have received acute treatment. Although childhood stroke has age-specific etiologies and clinical features, however, like for adults, it demands proper and fast diagnostics and treatment to mitigate long term sequelae. Development of a nationwide algorithm for diagnostics and treatment of arterial ischemic stroke in childhood could possibly help to reach this goal.
Period29 Mar 2023
Event titleRSU International Research Conference 2023: Knowledge for Use in Practice
Event typeConference
OrganiserRīga Stradiņš University
LocationRiga, LatviaShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

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