Strokes Can Strike the Youngest

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About 45 percent of strokes in children are hemorrhagic. Hemorrhagic strokes occur when a blood vessel in or on the brain bursts, causing blood to pool in the brain and depriving it of oxygen.

Some of the risk factors for stroke in childhood include sickle cell disease, heart disease, trauma and certain infections, according to the AHA guidelines, which were expected to be published in the September issue of Stroke.

Symptoms include:

• Sudden weakness or numbness occurring on the face, arms or legs, especially if it's one-sided.
• Sudden difficulty speaking or understanding what's being said.
• Confusion.
• Sudden trouble walking or a loss of balance.
• Dizziness.
• Sudden vision loss or difficulty seeing.
• Severe, sudden-onset headache.

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As with adults, the prognosis for children varies. Generally, the faster you can get your child to the hospital, the better the prognosis, though not all of the treatments available to adults are available for the treatment of children. Perkins' son is almost 6 and has had to undergo years of physical and occupational and vision therapy, and he still has weakness on his right side, but Perkins said her son has made incredible progress, even more than doctors expected he would.

"The prognosis at the beginning wasn't very good. Eighty-five to 90 percent of the brain tissue on his left side is gone. The doctors thought he'd be in a wheelchair, that he'd never be able to walk or talk. He struggles a bit, and it may take him a little longer, but he does it all now," Perkins added.

More information

To learn more about stroke in children, visit the American Heart Association.

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