NONHEMORRHAGIC PONTINE INFARCT IN A CHILD FOLLOWING MILD HEAD TRAUMA

child who presented with hemiparesis secondary to a delayed nonhemorrh agic pontine infarction following mild head trauma is described. The r esults of the child's workup, including computed tomography (CT), were negative. The diagnosis of nonhemorrhagic pontine infarct was made by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The diagnostic evaluation excluded other possible etiologies of cerebral infarction, including vasculitid es, CNS infection, congenital heart disease, hypercoagulable states, a nd demyelinating diseases. Although trauma cannot be proven as the cau se of the infarct, other known causes of infarct were excluded. There are few cases of traumatic nonhemorrhagic cerebral infarction among ch ildren in the literature; none describes diagnostic MRI findings. MRI is important in these cases, because it may reveal delayed infarction from small-vessel injury, which is not apparent on CT. This article di scusses the etiology of and the diagnostic evaluation of pediatric cer ebrovascular accidents and suggests the need for emergency physicians to consider trauma as a potential cause of delayed nonhemorrhagic cere bral infarct in children.