Surgical approaches for treatment of ischaemic cerebral stroke other than moyamoya disease in children.

Ischaemic cerebral strokes in children are relatively uncommon. With the exception of patients with moyamoya disease, there is no effective treatment for these lesions. One potential approach is encephalo-duro-arterio-synangiosis (EDAS). This is a safe neurosurgical procedure that promotes spontaneous transdural anastomosis that may provide additional blood flow to ischaemic regions. We present eight children with ischaemic strokes other than moyamoya disease, and discuss surgical attempts to treat this entity. The mean age of the eight children was 3.6 years (range: 13 months to 9 years). All children presented with acute childhood hemiplegia. Ischaemic stroke had occurred in association with a head injury in three children, but without an apparent cause in five. Five children underwent stable xenon-enhanced computed tomography to evaluate cerebral blood flow and all but one patient underwent EDAS. One child with no angiographic abnormalities recovered to a normal neurological state without surgery. Following surgery, another child also fully recovered, and the remaining six children recovered with only a slight hemiparesis. Revascularization was observed on a follow-up angiogram in three children. Our surgical experiences suggest that revascularization is influenced by haemodynamic demand and recanalization of the occluded artery. We favour the use of indirect anastomosis (EDAS) for selected patients and suggest that chronic ischaemia probably contributes to surgical success.