Stroke in Children

Stroke in children is very rare and the available literature consists predominantly of case-series or meta-analyses. For a medical professional it is therefore difficult to find a quick, comprehensive overview of the topic that is not biased as case-series may be. There are a lot of publications on stroke in adults, however, stroke in children is in many aspects a different entity with diverse challenges regarding treatment, outcome and follow-up. Moreover, the background and pathophysiology of pediatric stroke is different from that in stroke in adults. Pediatric stroke can be divided into ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. Ischemic stroke is often handled by pediatricians and pediatric neurologists whereas hemorrhagic stroke requires involvement of pediatric neurosurgeons or endovascular interventionalists. One of the peculiarities of pediatric stroke is that it often is linked to conditions that may cause both ischemia and hemorrhage. This book project would be uniquein uniting the medical and surgical perspectives and focus on specific pathological conditions in-depth in uniformly structured chapters, featuring highlighted key messages. The book will address age-specific differences between neonates, infant and children in relation to the chapter topic. The book is structured into a general section providing overall information and an extensive disease specific section highlighting the epidemiology, genetics, diagnostic work-up, imaging, treatment principles, outcome, rehabilitation and follow-up in children with stroke. In this way, the book will provide readily available practical principles and guidance for health personnel facing a child that is admitted with a stroke and where their institutional experience may be limited.

The book will be in line with AHA guidelines and contribute to a more structured, state of the art and foremost faster management of severely ill children. This is particularly valuable, considering the fact that there often occur diagnostic and treatment delays in children with stroke, which may contribute to a worse outcome for them.