Endovascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke in Children: Experience From the MR CLEAN Registry.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Multiple trials have shown the efficacy and safety of endovascular therapy (EVT) of acute ischemic stroke in adults. Trials in children are lacking and only case reports and case series exist. However, the long-term outcome of children with acute ischemic stroke can be devastating with significant mortality and morbidity. In this study, we describe the safety and efficacy of EVT in children with anterior circulation acute ischemic stroke who were included in the MR CLEAN Registry (Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial of Endovascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke in the Netherlands). METHODS: Patients under the age of 18 years who were treated with EVT for acute ischemic stroke between March 2014 and July 2017 were retrospectively reviewed up to 6 months after EVT. Nine children, aged 13 months to 16 years (median 14 years, interquartile range, 3-15 years), underwent EVT. Stroke cause was thromboembolism in children with end-stage heart failure on left ventricular assist device (4 of these 9 cases). Median time from onset to imaging was 133 minutes. Four children received intravenous alteplase before EVT, with median onset to needle time of 165 minutes. In all but one patient, EVT was technically successful. No major periprocedural complications occurred. RESULTS: At 24 hours after EVT, 3 children completely recovered and 4 children showed partial recovery (median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, 3.5), whereas 2 patients on left ventricular assist device died within the first week due to the occurrence of multiple strokes. One patient on left ventricular assist device developed a fatal massive intracranial hemorrhage and another child died due to left ventricular assist device-related complications. Among the 5 stroke survivors, all had a favorable outcome (modified Rankin Scale score, 0-2) at 6 months follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: EVT of children with acute ischemic stroke seems safe and feasible. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution as more and larger studies are needed to clarify the trade-off between risks and benefits of this treatment.

Atypical neuroimaging characteristics of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in infants: a case series of hemorrhagic brain lesions in the deep grey matter.

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare multisystem condition associated with uncontrolled overproduction and infiltration of lymphocytes and histiocytes predominantly in liver, lymph nodes, spleen, and central nervous system. Neuroimaging findings on MRI are fairly nonspecific and classically include periventricular white matter signal abnormalities and diffuse atrophy. Focal parenchymal lesions may demonstrate post contrast ring or nodular enhancement and calcification. However, the MR imaging characteristics can be highly variable. Here, we present two cases of HLH in infants with multiple hemorrhagic lesions mostly depicted in both thalami and basal ganglia regions. Thalamic, basal ganglia, and brain stem involvement with hemorrhagic changes in HLH are rarely described in literature. Early diagnosis of HLH may be lifesaving. Awareness of the disease is necessary to investigate its characteristic findings and avoiding a delay in diagnosis.

Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Therapies in Children With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.

Neuroprognostication in severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) is challenging and occurs in critical care settings to determine withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies (WLST). However, formal pediatric sTBI neuroprognostication guidelines are lacking, brain death criteria vary, and dilemmas regarding WLST persist, which lead to institutional differences. We studied WLST practice and outcome in pediatric sTBI to provide insight into WLST-associated factors and survivor recovery trajectory ≥1 year post-sTBI. This retrospective, single center observational study included patients <18 years admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of Erasmus MC-Sophia (a tertiary university hospital) between 2012 and 2020 with sTBI defined as a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) ≤8 and requiring intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring. Clinical, neuroimaging, and electroencephalogram data were reviewed. Multi-disciplinary follow-up included the Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category (PCPC) score, educational level, and commonly cited complaints. Seventy-eight children with sTBI were included (median age 10.5 years; interquartile range [IQR] 5.0-14.1; 56% male; 67% traffic-related accidents). Median ICP monitoring was 5 days (IQR 3-8), 19 (24%) underwent decompressive craniectomy. PICU mortality was 21% (16/78): clinical brain death (5/16), WLST due to poor neurological prognosis (WLST_neuro, 11/16). Significant differences (p < 0.001) between survivors and non-survivors: first GCS score, first pupillary reaction and first lactate, Injury Severity Score, pre-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and Rotterdam CT (computed tomography) score. WLST_neuro decision timing ranged from 0 to 31 days (median 2 days, IQR 0-5). WLST_neuro decision (n = 11) was based on neurologic examination (100%), brain imaging (100%) and refractory intracranial hypertension (5/11; 45%). WLST discussions were multi-disciplinary with 100% agreement. Immediate agreement between medical team and caregivers was 81%. The majority (42/62, 68%) of survivors were poor outcome (PCPC score 3 to 5) at PICU discharge, of which 12 (19%) in a vegetative state. One year post-injury, no patients were in a vegetative state and the median PCPC score had improved to 2 (IQR 2-3). No patients died after PICU discharge. Twenty percent of survivors could not attend school 2 years post-injury. Survivors requiring an adjusted educational level increased to 45% within this timeframe. Chronic complaints were headache, behavioral problems, and sleeping problems. In conclusion, two-thirds of sTBI PICU mortality was secondary to WLST_neuro and occurred early post-injury. Median survivor PCPC score improved from 4 to 2 with no vegetative patients 1 year post-sTBI. Our findings show the WLST decision process was multi-disciplinary and guided by specific clinical features at presentation, clinical course, and (serial) neurological diagnostic modalities, of which the testing combination was determined by case-to-case variation. This stresses the need for international guidelines to provide accurate neuroprognostication within an appropriate timeframe whereby overall survivor outcome data provides valuable context and guidance in the acute phase decision process.