Mimics of childhood stroke: characteristics of a prospective cohort.

Background: Little is known about the clinical features and spectrum of diagnoses in children with "stroke mimics," those with acute neurologic deficits but without cerebrovascular diseases.

Objectives: Our goal was to describe patients with stroke mimics and to determine if clinical features predict benign diagnoses.

Methods: Our stroke consult team registered a prospective consecutive cohort of 143 patients with acute presentations suspicious for cerebrovascular disease from November 2003 to November 2004.