Children may also have a stroke

It seemed to be merely a seizure when the baby Alexzandra Gonzales suddenly got startled and then drooped, breathing weak. After the "sprint" took her to the hospital, Gonzales' parents did not believe their ears when they learned that she had had a stroke just a few days before her first birthday.

Baby Alexzandra Gonzales and mother after being treated for stroke

" We never thought children could have a stroke, " Gonzales's mother, Amanda Gonzales, choked out. This is a common misunderstanding, while in fact, every year the United States has several thousand children with a stroke. Professionals are also concerned that this situation is increasing. About 10-25% of children have a stroke.

Stroke is very rare in children, but Dr. John Lynch, Institute of American Health (NIH), estimates that there are about 1,000 babies suffering from this disease each year, plus about 3,000-5,000 children less than 18 months old. The difference in age is important because the stroke in newborns is different from older children in that they are at high risk of brain damage.

Some experts believe that the majority of stroke survivors may soon recover, as their brains are "more flexible" than adults. But according to recent research, more than half of recovery cases will be permanently disabled in movement and awareness.

To date, there has been little research on how to treat stroke in young children. Adult measures are still used despite knowing that the cause of stroke in adults such as vascular occlusion or arteriosclerosis is not entirely the culprit in children.

Currently, more than two-thirds of strokes in children have no known cause, although it is thought that cardiac defects in the heart, vascular events and some infectious diseases can stimulate the stroke. young. The NIH study also suggested that the cause was due to gene mutations related to blood clot formation and metabolism.

In the case of Alexzandra Gonzales, after being hospitalized for 3 days, the patient suffered another stroke on his birthday. People are forced to cut off part of the skull to make room for the swollen brain. A week after waking up, this 1-year-old girl seemed to have just been born, unable to actively do anything including lifting her head up. The doctors did not know the cause of the stroke in Alexzandra, but she was lucky to be taken to the hospital in time. In many cases, parents cannot recognize the danger signs of acute stroke symptoms such as half-human weakness, no speech and typically seizures.

According to Dr. Raymond Pitetti, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, only when early detection of symptoms of stroke in young children and timely treatment is there a chance to save the brain.

My Linh