title: Clinico-etiological profile of childhood stroke in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Eastern India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The clinical pattern and etiology of stroke may vary over time or with geographical location. In Asian countries, specific etiology and outcome of childhood stroke have been rarely reported.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the clinical and etiological pattern of childhood stroke and their outcome in a Tertiary Care Center.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Kolkata over a period of 3 years. All children from 6 months to 12 years, diagnosed as childhood stroke by radio-imaging were included in our study. Children presenting with paraplegia/paraparesis were excluded. Etiologies were determined on the basis of clinical examination, related blood investigations and radio-imaging findings. Data gathered from the stroke patients were entered into a preformed proforma and appropriate statistical analyses were done.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most commonly found clinical presentation was hemiparesis (70.6%). Next in place was a seizure (61.8%) and alteration of consciousness (58.8%). The most common etiology of childhood stroke in our hospital was found to be an intracranial infection (41.2%), followed by vascular etiology. Stroke was ischemic in nature in 91.2% of cases. Among the clinical features, vomiting, alteration of sensorium, and fever were significantly (P < 0.01) more in infectious cases of stroke, but hemiparesis was significantly (P < 0.05) more common in noninfectious etiology. Most of the cases of noninfectious etiology (95%) completely recovered without any persistent neurodeficit or mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intracranial infection is the commonest etiology of stroke in pediatric patients presenting at our hospital. Commonest type is an ischemic stroke. The most of the patients completely recovered from the acute neurological insult after proper and timely management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Medicine, R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Chaitali
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Patra
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Medicine, R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Shatanik
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Medicine, R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Debasree
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guha
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Medicine, R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Malay K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Dasgupta
keywords: Hemiplegia; infections; outcome; stroke