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As strokes are growing more common among infants and children,
the American Heart Association on Thursday released its first-ever guidelines on
how to recognize and treat stroke in infants and children.
The Management of Stroke in Children, as the paper was
named, reports that about 10 out of every 100,000 children have a stroke
annually, the risk being greatest during the first two months of life.
“Stroke in children is uncommon but not as rare as we used
to think,” E Steve Roach, MD, chair of the statement-writing group and
professor of pediatric neurology at the Ohio State University College of
Medicine, said, according to WebMD.
The guide also points that risk factors and treatment are
different in children compared to adults. If high blood pressure, cigarette
smoking and artery disease are main risk factors in adults’ stroke, the most
common risk factors in children include sickle cell anemia and congenital or
acquired heart disease.
There are also other risks, which can lead to stroke in
infants and kid such as neck and head infections, autoimmune disorders, head
traumas, dehydration, or inflammatory bowel disease. Dr. Roach said “it’s
critical to promptly recognize and diagnose a stroke, because treating the
cause reduce the likelihood of additional strokes.”
He also warned that in newborns the first symptoms is often
seizure of an arm or leg, which is less common in adult stroke.
Children should not be given the same drugs as adults are
was another recommendation of the AHA when it comes to treating strokes in
children. The major reason was that these drugs were tested only on adults,
thus their side effects on children are not known. They could seriously
endanger children’s health.
Modern imaging technologies such as magnetic resonance
imaging, magnetic resonance angiography, and computed tomography have improved
infant stroke diagnosis lately, the guide read.
The guidelines were published in Stroke: Journal of the
American Heart Association.
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