Even Infants Can Suffer Strokes

The brain attacks strike seemingly healthy babies, according to new study findings. Parents of newborns often worry their babies may choke, or not feed well, or perhaps struggle with breathing problems.

Few consider the possibility their child may suffer a Stroke.

But they need to be aware of that risk, neurologists say: Strokes are as common in newborns as they are in the elderly. In older children, Strokes are far rarer, but they do occur.

"Most people are under the impression that babies and children don't have strokes. Part of what makes it surprising is that it can certainly happen in otherwise healthy babies," said Dr. Heather Fullerton, an assistant professor of pediatrics and neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, who has published research on the topic.

Experts are still trying to determine why Strokes occur in the very young. Complicating matters, strokes in infants are often diagnosed late or not at all. And there are few well-accepted treatments for these little patients.

But children's brains are very "plastic," which means they have a great capacity to learn to compensate for the damage, experts say.

About one in 4,000 or 5,000 infants suffers a stroke sometime in the first month of life, according to Dr. John Kylan Lynch, a researcher at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

"From age one month to 18 years, the rate is about 1 or 2 per 30,000," Lynch added.

About half of infant strokes are ischemic, which means a brain artery has become blocked. The other half are hemorrhagic, in which a blood vessel has burst, Fullerton said.

According to Lynch's research, up to 12 percent of newborns who suffer a stroke will die. Few newborns have a repeat Stroke, he said. "The recurrence rate is up to 5 percent, although recent studies suggest rates less than 1 percent," Lynch said.

While strokes in infants often strike suddenly, there can sometimes be warning signs. "In infants, it could be seizures or sudden onset of weakness on one side of the body and usually involves the hands," Fullerton said. "Certainly if parents see an acute change like that, they should go to the emergency department."

Once there, the infant can be taken to the neonatal intensive care unit and a CT scan of the head performed, to rule in or out a stroke.

In his research, Lynch has found that black infants are twice as likely as white children to suffer a stroke. Part of that increased risk owes to the prevalence of sickle cell disease, an inherited disorder of the red blood cells. "Sickle cells over time damage the blood vessels to the brain," he said.