Mineralizing angiopathy with basal ganglia stroke after minor head trauma; a clinical profile and follow up study of a large series of paediatric patients from North India.

Background: There is paucity of published literature on follow-up outcome of mineralizing angiopathy with basal ganglia stroke related to minor head trauma. This retrospective study aims to bridge this knowledge gap.

Methods: Patients (1 months- 15 years), presenting with acute stroke over a 5-year period were recruited. From this cohort, basal ganglia strokes following minor head trauma were analysed in detail and outcome assessed using the Recovery and Recurrence Questionnaire (RRQ).

Results: A total of 94 patients were eligible, 48 (51%) were basal ganglia stroke following minor head trauma [M: F 2.5:1; mean age 21 ± 8.5 (±SD months]. Further evaluation of this group revealed a median time of 60 min (range 0-96 h) from trauma to stroke onset. Nearly all had acute hemiparesis (45/48). Almost a third of patients (n = 13; 27%) had a transient hemi dystonia on the hemiparetic side after a median of 4 days (range 2-6 days) of symptom onset.Computed tomography (CT) head showed bilateral basal ganglia calcification in all; Most patients (31/48; 64.5%) were anaemic. Magnetic Resonance (MR) angiography, echocardiogram and thrombophilia screen was normal wherever they were performed (6/48).The median follow-up period - 14 months (Range 0-22months). Majority of patients (22/35; 63%) showed complete recovery at 18 months follow up, with maximum recovery occurring between 6 and 12 months.

Conclusion: Minor head trauma leading to basal ganglia stroke in children was the most common cause of paediatric stroke in our patients. In follow-up most patients had recovered fully, though a significant minority did not recover completely.