Embolic stroke in a child with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

An eleven year old boy presented with sudden onset right-sided hemiplegia and ipsilateral lower facial weakness. Two-dimensional echo revealed the diagnosis of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy with multiple intracardiac clots. MRI scan of head showed infarctions in the area of caudate nuclei, putamen, brain stem and cerebellum. On anticoagulation therapy, all thrombi, except one, disappeared. The child died 2.5 months later due to resistant cardiac failure.