Cerebrovascular accidents in infants and children with congenital cyanotic heart disease.

The red blood cell (RBC) counts and indices of 12 patients with congenital cyanotic heart diseases (CCHD) who had had cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) (study group) were compared with those of 41 infants and children with CCHD who had not had CVA (control group); the groups were matched for age and type of CCHD. The patients in the study group were found to have nonsignificantly lower hemoglobin levels and similar hematocrit levels, in comparison with the control group. On the other hand, significantly lower RBC indices were found among the patients of the study group in comparison with the control group. The arterial oxyhemoglobin concentration, studied in six patients of the study group, was not found to be significantly lower than that of the patients in the control group. Thus, we conclude that relative anemia with microcytosis is associated with the occurrence of CVA in children with CCHD.