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Do babies have strokes? It doesn't happen a lot but new babies have different strokes that bigger babies. It there are 1ookids that have strokes 10-25 die, Doctors thought that kids wold get better easier than adults because their drains are stiu qrowing. Aduits brains are how they are sapposed to be.now they know it is the same for both of them. kids that have strokes-Doctors don't know

 “It gets short shrift,” complains Dr. Raymond Pitetti, assistant emergency medicine chief at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, who developed a “stroke team” for kids, to speed diagnosis after counting an increase in victims in his emergency room. “There are a lot of knowledge gaps,” agrees Dr. John Lynch of the National Institutes of Health, whose research is pointing to possible unrecognized genetic culprits. Strokes are rare in children. Still, Lynch estimates that about 1,000 infants a year suffer a stroke during the newborn period or before birth — plus anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 children from age 1 month to 18 years. The age difference is important, as newborn strokes appear to be distinctly different from those in older babies and children, who are more at risk for repeat brain attacks. Between 10 and 25 percent of pediatric stroke sufferers die. Kids do better than adults Specialists once thought most survivors eventually would recover, because children’s brains are much more “plastic” than adults’ — they’re more likely to reroute themselves around damage. But sobering research now shows more than half will have permanent motor or cognitive disabilities. “Kids in the end still do better than adults,” cautions Dr. Amy Goldstein, a pediatric neurologist at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, noting that “it’s hard to keep a 2-year-old still,” while the elderly may not be as motivated for necessary physical therapy. Worse, there’s very little research on how to treat child stroke. Neurologists cobble together therapy based on what works in adults, although what causes most adult strokes — hardened, clogged arteries — isn’t the culprit for youngsters, and few are diagnosed fast enough to try experimentally the drug tPA that can restore their elders’ blocked blood flow. Efforts are under way to change that. An international study, led by Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, is trying to pinpoint risk factors and patients’ outcomes based on how different hospitals care for them, knowledge necessary to device new treatments. While cardiac birth defects, vascular abnormalities, sickle cell disease and certain infections can trigger child strokes, doctors never find a cause for about two-thirds of cases. A second study, led by NIH’s Lynch, suggests many of them harbor genetic mutations connected to blood clotting and metabolism, a possible missing link. And about 100 patients are enrolled in a study of whether Pitetti’s stroke team improves their outcomes by speeding diagnosis. For now, pediatric stroke treatment centers on preventing a repeat stroke and minimizing damage from the first one. Consider Alexzandra Gonzales. Raced to the Pittsburgh hospital July 24, she suffered another stroke three days later, on her birthday. Surgeons cut out a portion of her skull to relieve massive brain swelling and prevent further damage. When she woke up a week later, she was like a newborn, unable even to hold her head up. Beaten the odds After four months of hospitalization and intensive therapy at a rehabilitation unit, today the Connellsville, Pa., toddler can sit, roll over and stand with support, although she still is weak on one side. “So far, she has beaten all the odds and has surprised everybody,” Gonzales says. Doctors aren’t sure what caused Alexzandra’s stroke, but she was lucky: Her parents raced her to a local hospital that immediately recognized she needed neurology care. Too often, children face a significant delay, say Pitetti and Goldstein. Hospitals frequently make stroke a diagnosis of last resort. Parents may not recognize acute stroke symptoms — such as one-sided weakness, loss of speech and, in babies, seizures. And if your baby seems to favor one side, insist on a neurology exam — it might be an undetected newborn stroke that requires physical therapy, Goldstein adds. “Moms need to trust their gut instinct,” she says. “Know this can happen.” © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.One per every 4,000 births,
 * 58 percent had cerebral palsy, which causes muscle weakness.
 * 39 percent had epilepsy.
 * 25 percent had language delays.
 * 22 percent had hyperactivity or other abnormal behaviors.

Causes of infant stroke are still being explored, said Wu. “Some known causes include congenital heart disease, which can cause stroke if a clot goes from the heart to the brain. In utero cocaine exposure can cause stroke. Infant stroke may be connected to women who had preeclampsia (a blood pressure condition linked to delivery). And if an infant's blood is too thick when he's born, that can be a risk factor.

“The problem is, the vast majority of cases can't be explained by these things. They only explain a small portion of strokes.”

Currently, UCSF researchers are gathering blood samples from babies, some with stroke and some without, to see if babies with stroke have a higher incidence of congenital clotting disorders. If so, this could prove to be an increased risk of perinatal stroke.

Strokes become evident in babies either just after birth or not until they're four to eight months of age. Those who are sick at birth usually have seizures (uncontrolled movements and rhythmic jerking) or apnea, spells where they stop breathing.

“Among these babies, we haven't found any evidence of a really old stroke. They all looked like they had a stroke around the time of delivery,” said Wu. “Moms giving birth for the first time had increased risk, as did women with prolonged labor.”

The second group of babies with strokes appear fine when they're born. Then, at about six months of age, the parents may notice that the baby is using only one hand and not the other hand. “This may be a sign that the hand he's not using is weak. Children don't usually exhibit handedness (a preference for one hand over the other) until one year of age,” said Wu.

Parents who recognize such signs should have the child evaluated by a pediatrician, who may order an imaging study. If evidence of a stroke is present, the child can receive physical, occupational and speech therapies to improve his or her outcome. “We also check these infants to see if they have a genetic tendency, called a predisposition, to form clots in the bloodstream. If they do, there are…specific vitamins that can help,” said Wu.

This information also is important because things like smoking or taking oral contraceptives later in life could raise their risk for having another clot form, causing a stroke.

One interesting fact about infant stroke is this: Those who are quite sick as newborns have a 40 percent chance of being normal — no seizures, no weakness — in just a few years. That's because the infant brain has great plasticity, meaning that adjacent areas of the brain are able to take over functions lost by stroke damage.

“They're so young that the areas of the brain that weren't injured take over the functions of the area affected by stroke,” said Wu. “It's really amazing. We see kids having enormous strokes and, by age 5, they're hopping and running, with only a slight limp.

“I think it's encouraging to know that so many of these babies who have had strokes do so well. It definitely gives a lot of hope to parents.”

Research is just beginning regarding stroke in infants. Currently under study are the risk factors that cause such strokes, how to diagnose strokes while the infant is still in the uterus or at delivery, how to slow further development of a stroke and how to restore lost body functions.

Currently, a stroke cannot be diagnosed through ultrasound because the picture isn't sharp enough. MRI and PET scans are sensitive enough, but aren't easy to apply to the situation, according to Murray Goldstein, D.O., M.P.H., a board member with National Stroke Association and former director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health.

Researchers also are trying to figure out what things increase a particular infant's risk of having a stroke. “For example,” said Goldstein, “does the mother who has eclampsia (coma or convulsions before, during or after childbirth) have a greater risk of her child having a stroke than a mother who doesn't have eclampsia?”

Treatments for infants who've had strokes are also being studied. “Can we restore function to the injured brain by stimulating areas of the brain adjacent to the injured area so that they take over its function?” said Goldstein.

With all the new research on infant strokes, the future looks promising for babies. In the meantime, parents should make an effort to recognize any signs that may point to a stroke and have their children evaluated so they can be treated promptly and effectively.

In my on words i learn that we can help people that have stroke like if you have a stroke you have to go fas to a hospital.