Childhood stroke: how are infarction characteristics related to long-term cognitive outcomes

The aim of the study is to investigate the differences in the cognitive performance of junior schoolchildren depending on the post-arterial perinatal and pediatric ischemic stroke lesion characteristics. Materials and methods. 49 children aged 6—10 years with a history of early (onset before two years old) arterial ischemic stroke were examined. A comparative analysis of the differences between the qualitative characteristics of MRI and CT images of the brain and cognitive performance in junior schoolchildren was carried out. Following tasks for the cognitive assessment were used: The Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (non-verbal intelligence), blank version of «The method for determination cognitive development» Zambatsavechene (verbal intelligence), The Corsi block-tapping test (working memory capacity) and Go/No-Go task (cognitive inhibition). Results. Significant difference (p=0.012) in children with subcortical and combined stroke types in the non-verbal intelligence (The Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices) was found out, where lower results were observed in children with combined stroke type. Differences at the trend level (p=0.057) were observed in the non-verbal intelligence (The Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices) between the groups with left-sided and bilateral stroke localization. Conclusion. Qualitative infarction characteristics may influence the cognitive outcome in children after arterial stroke. MRI is a promising research tool that can help predict cognitive impairment in children who have suffered early ischemic stroke.

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