Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery
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Dysarthria and dysphagia are known complications following posterior fossa tumour (PFT) surgery. Outcome studies for these disorders, however, have focused on a select sub-group of children with mutism. Little is known regarding the incidence or features of these impairments in a consecutively admitted sample of children with PFT. This study describes the incidence and features of mutism, dysarthria and dysphagia during the acute post-surgical phase in a consecutive sample of children with PFT, unselected for the presence of mutism. ⋯ The incidence of acute presentation of mutism, dysarthria and dysphagia post-surgery was relatively high, affecting around one in three cases. This incidence rate, considered together with the fact that over half of all cases had co-morbid communication or swallowing impairments, suggests that health professionals should be aware of the likelihood of dysarthria and dysphagia presentation in the acute period and consider speech pathology referral where necessary.
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Although minor head injury in childhood is a common occurrence and usually no complications, posttraumatic cerebral infarction has rarely been reported. Such infarction is characterized by occlusion of the lateral lenticulostriate artery. The authors report an atypical case of posttraumatic occlusion of the internal carotid artery (ICA) after minor head injury in childhood. ⋯ Minor head injury can cause cerebral infarction in childhood, although this is rare. If conservative therapy cannot prevent progressive cerebral infarction, STA-MCA bypass should be considered in case of the ICA occlusion.