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Stroke rehabilitation is a progressive, dynamic, goal-orientated process aimed at enabling a person with impairment to reach their optimal physical, cognitive, emotional, communicative, social and/or functional activity level. After a stroke, patients often continue to require rehabilitation for persistent deficits related to spasticity, upper and lower extremity dysfunction, shoulder and central pain, mobility/gait, dysphagia, vision, and communication. Each year in Canada 62,000 people experience a stroke. Among stroke survivors, over 6500 individuals access in-patient stroke rehabilitation and stay a median of 30 days (inter-quartile range 19 to 45 days). The 2015 update of the Canadian Stroke Best Practice Recommendations: Stroke Rehabilitation Practice Guidelines is a comprehensive summary of current evidence-based recommendations for all members of multidisciplinary teams working in a range of settings, who provide care to patients following stroke. These recommendations have been developed to address both the organization of stroke rehabilitation within a system of care (i.e., Initial Rehabilitation Assessment; Stroke Rehabilitation Units; Stroke Rehabilitation Teams; Delivery; Outpatient and Community-Based Rehabilitation), and specific interventions and management in stroke recovery and direct clinical care (i.e., Upper Extremity Dysfunction; Lower Extremity Dysfunction; Dysphagia and Malnutrition; Visual-Perceptual Deficits; Central Pain; Communication; Life Roles). In addition, stroke happens at any age, and therefore a new section has been added to the 2015 update to highlight components of stroke rehabilitation for children who have experienced a stroke, either prenatally, as a newborn, or during childhood. All recommendations have been assigned a level of evidence which reflects the strength and quality of current research evidence available to support the recommendation. The updated Rehabilitation Clinical Practice Guidelines feature several additions that reflect new research areas and stronger evidence for already existing recommendations. It is anticipated that these guidelines will provide direction and standardization for patients, families/caregiver(s), and clinicians within Canada and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An improved understanding of perinatal stroke epidemiology, classification, neuroimaging, and outcomes has emerged in recent years. Despite this, little is known regarding the pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for most cases. A multitude of possible associations and putative risk factors have been reported, but most lack definitive empirical evidence supporting primary causation. These include obstetrical and maternal factors, perinatal conditions, infectious diseases, prothrombotic abnormalities, cardiac disorders, medications, and many others. The bulk of evidence is weak, dominated by case reports and retrospective case series. Findings from the small number of case-control and cohort studies that exist are limited by heterogeneous populations and methodologies. The single largest barrier to ultimately understanding and potentially improving outcomes from this common and disabling condition is the lack of comprehensive, fully powered risk factor studies required to definitively describe perinatal stroke pathogenesis. This review summarizes current evidence and suggests future directions for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Craniocervical arterial dissection is a frequent cause of childhood arterial ischemic stroke requiring prompt diagnosis and treatment. However, there is no universal guideline for diagnostic cerebrovascular imaging in children. We assessed the role of time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography in diagnosing craniocervical arterial dissection. We included children (1 month to 18 years) with craniocervical arterial dissection and ischemic stroke from January 1998 to June 2007. Institutional protocol required magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/ magnetic resonance angiography for all ischemic stroke cases and conventional cerebral angiography if magnetic resonance angiography showed any arteriopathy. Among 233 ischemic stroke cases, craniocervical arterial dissection was diagnosed in 13 patients (5.6%; 10 males), with a mean age of 7.5 years. Initial time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography missed dissection in 8 patients (61.5%) because the neck vessels were not scanned (n = 2), of suboptimal technique (n = 3), and of diagnostic error (n = 3). T1 fat-saturated MRI and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography were not performed in 12 patients. If suspicion for arterial dissection is high, T1 fat-saturated neck imaging and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography should be considered to maximize detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly distinct patterns of focal ischemic injury in the fetal and perinatal brain are recognized. Improved classification has afforded advances in risk factor identification, pathophysiology hypotheses, outcome prediction, and potential avenues for intervention. Cerebrovascular occlusion leading to perinatal stroke may be arterial or venous, symptomatic or subclinical, and it can occur across multiple time frames. Distinguishing causative factors from mere associations represents a major challenge with important implications for studies of pathogenesis. The adverse outcomes suffered by most children highlight the need for further research. Reviewed here are the current understandings, recent advancements, and future directions for research in perinatal ischemic stroke. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Craniocervical arterial dissection is an important cause of childhood arterial ischemic stroke, accounting for 7.5% to 20% of cases. Significant neurologic morbidity and mortality may result and recurrence risk may be higher than in adults. However, the natural history and long-term outcome of pediatric dissection are poorly studied. We report 3 cases of extracranial vertebral artery dissection with complications including pseudoaneurysm formation, recurrent stroke, and late spontaneous thrombosis of the dissected artery. These cases illustrate the dynamic processes involved in vascular injury and healing of vertebral artery dissection in children over years, with potential implications for long-term management and prevention of recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: Arterial ischaemic stroke (AIS) can cause disabling hemiparesis in children. We aimed to test whether contralesional, inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) could affect interhemispheric inhibition to improve hand function in chronic subcortical paediatric AIS. Methods: Patients were eligible for this parallel, randomised trial if they were in the SickKids Children''s Stroke Program and had subcortical AIS more than 2 years previously, had transcallosal sparing, were more than 7 years of age, had hand motor impairment, had no seizures or dyskinesia, and were taking no drugs that alter cortical excitability. Patients were paired for age and weakness and were randomised within each pair to sham treatment or inhibitory, low-frequency rTMS over contralesional motor cortex (20 min, 1200 stimuli) once per day for 8 days. An occupational therapist did standardised tests of hand function at days 1 (baseline), 5, 10, and 17 (1 week post-treatment), and the primary outcomes were changes in grip strength and the Melbourne assessment of upper extremity function (MAUEF) between baseline and day 10. Patients, parents, and occupational therapists were blinded to treatment allocation. Analysis was per protocol. Findings: Ten patients with paediatric stroke were enrolled (median age 13·25 [IQR 10·08–16·78] years, mean time post-stroke 6·33 [SD 3·56] years): four with mild weakness, two with moderate weakness, and four with severe weakness. A repeated-measures ANOVA showed a significant interaction between time and the effect of treatment on grip strength (p=0·03). At day 10, grip strength was 2·28 (SD 1·01) kg greater than baseline in the rTMS group and 2·92 (1·20) kg less than baseline in the sham group (p=0·009). Benefits in mean grip strength persisted at day 17 (2·63 [0·56] kg greater than baseline with rTMS and 1·00 [0·70] kg less than baseline with sham treatment; p=0·01). Day 10 MAUEF score improved by more in the rTMS group than in the sham group (7·25 [3·8] vs 0·79 [1·3] points greater than baseline; p=0·002), but this benefit did not persist to day 17. Function of the unaffected hand remained stable. rTMS was well tolerated with no serious adverse events. Interpretation: Contralesional inhibitory rTMS was safe and feasible for patients with paediatric subcortical AIS, and seemed to improve hand function in patients with hemiparesis. Further studies are required to confirm the potential role of rTMS in paediatric neurorehabilitation. Funding: Canadian Stroke Consortium; Canadian Institutes of Health Research; American Academy of Neurology Foundation; Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This review provides an overview of pediatric ischemic stroke to serve as a foundation for the discussion of rehabilitation strategies following focal injury in the developing brain. Cerebrovascular disease is an important cause of acquired brain injury in neonates and children. Ischemic strokes are caused by a multitude of risk factors and advances in neuroimaging have improved diagnosis and understanding of pathophysiology. Pediatric stroke provides the ideal model for the study of injury and recovery in a plastic nervous system. Though their brains likely posses greater potential and unique reorganizational skills, most children suffer neurological morbidity after stroke. An improved understanding of these systems is helping us understand, validate, and improve traditional approaches to rehabilitation while opening the door to new opportunities to improve outcome. All aspects of a patient's function, from the physical to psychological, including issues unique to children and their families, must be addressed and are reviewed. New advances and future directions for research are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Detailed kinematics of motor impairment of the contralesional ("affected") and ipsilesional ("unaffected") limbs in children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy are not well understood. We aimed to 1) quantify the kinematics of reaching in both arms of hemiparetic children with perinatal stroke using a robotic exoskeleton, and 2) assess the correlation of kinematic reaching parameters with clinical motor assessments.Methods: This prospective, case-control study involved the Alberta Perinatal Stroke Project, a population-based research cohort, and the Foothills Medical Center Stroke Robotics Laboratory in Calgary, Alberta over a four year period. Prospective cases were collected through the Calgary Stroke Program and included term-born children with magnetic resonance imaging confirmed perinatal ischemic stroke and upper extremity deficits. Control participants were recruited from the community. Participants completed a visually guided reaching task in the KINARM robot with each arm separately, with 10 parameters quantifying motor function. Kinematic measures were compared to clinical assessments and stroke type.Results: Fifty children with perinatal ischemic stroke (28 arterial, mean age: 12.5 ± 3.9 years; 22 venous, mean age: 11.5 ± 3.8 years) and upper extremity deficits were compared to healthy controls (n = 147, mean age: 12.7 ± 3.9 years). Perinatal stroke groups demonstrated contralesional motor impairments compared to controls when reaching out (arterial = 10/10, venous = 8/10), and back (arterial = 10/10, venous = 6/10) with largest errors in reaction time, initial direction error, movement length and time. Ipsilesional impairments were also found when reaching out (arterial = 7/10, venous = 1/10) and back (arterial = 6/10). The arterial group performed worse than venous on both contralesional and ipsilesional parameters. Contralesional reaching parameters showed modest correlations with clinical measures in the arterial group.Conclusions: Robotic assessment of reaching behavior can quantify complex, upper limb dysfunction in children with perinatal ischemic stroke. The ipsilesional, "unaffected" limb is often abnormal and may be a target for therapeutic interventions in stroke-induced hemiparetic cerebral palsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Objectives Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been used to measure cortical excitability as a functional measurement of corticomotor pathways. Given its potential application as an assessment tool in stroke, we aimed to analyze the correlation of TMS parameters with clinical features in stroke using data from 10 different centers. Methods Data of 341 patients with a clinical diagnosis of stroke were collected from studies assessing cortical excitability using TMS. We used a multivariate regression model in which the baseline cortical excitability parameter “resting Motor Threshold (rMT)” was the main outcome and the demographic, anatomic and clinical characteristics were included as independent variables. Results The variable “severity of motor deficit” consistently remained significant in predicting rMT in the affected hemisphere, with a positive β coefficient, in the multivariate models after sensitive analyses and adjusting for important confounders such as site center. Additionally, we found that the correlations between “age” or “time since stroke” and the rMT in the affected hemisphere were significant, as well as the interaction between “time since stroke” and “severity of motor deficit”. Conclusions We have shown that severity of motor deficit is an important predictor for rMT in the affected hemisphere. Additionally, time since stroke seems to be an effect modifier for the correlation between motor deficit and rMT. In the unaffected motor cortex, these correlations were not significant. We discuss these findings in the context of stroke rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neonatal group B streptococcus meningitis causes neurologic morbidity and mortality. Cerebrovascular involvement is a common, poorly studied, and potentially modifiable pathologic process. We hypothesized that imaging patterns of focal brain infarction are recognizable in neonatal group B streptococcal meningitis. A consecutive case series included term neonates with the following: (1) bacterial meningitis, (2) acute group B streptococcal infection (positive cerebrospinal fluid/blood culture), (3) brain magnetic resonance imaging within 14 days, and (4) acute intraparenchymal focal infarctions (restricted diffusion). Lesions within known arterial territories were classified as arterial ischemic stroke. Clinical presentations, investigations, and neurologic outcomes were recorded. Eight newborns (50% female) with focal infarction were identified. Five presented early (<1 week), and all manifested clinical shock and elevated acute-phase reactants. Less than 50% had prenatal group B streptococcal screening, while 2 of 3 screened were negative. Two distinct patterns of focal infarction were identified: (1) deep perforator arterial stroke to basal ganglia, thalamus, and periventricular white matter (7/8, 88%), and (2) superficial injury with patchy, focal infarctions of the cortical surface (6/8, 75%). Outcomes (mean 23.8 months) were poor, with severe disability or death in 6/8 (75%). Recognizable stroke patterns contribute to severe neurologic outcomes and represent a potentially modifiable pathophysiologic process in neonatal group B streptococcal meningitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: The safety and efficacy of thrombolysis after acute stroke in children have not been established. Our aim was to describe current practices and results of the use of alteplase for acute arterial ischaemic stroke in children enrolled in an international pediatric stroke registry and to compare current practices with those published in case reports and with guidelines for the use of alteplase for adult stroke. Methods: In this multicentre observational cohort study, we analysed the clinical features, the dosing and timing of treatment, and the short-term outcome in children treated with alteplase for acute arterial ischaemic stroke who were enrolled in the International Pediatric Stroke Study (IPSS) between January, 2003, and July, 2007. The findings from the IPSS were compared with published case reports for clinical features, adherence to adult guidelines for alteplase, and outcomes. Findings: Of 687 children with acute arterial ischaemic stroke enrolled in the IPSS, 15 (2%) received alteplase: nine received intravenous alteplase and six received intra-arterial alteplase. The median time to treatment from stroke onset was 3·3 h (range 2·0–52·0 h) for intravenous alteplase and 4·5 h (3·8–24·0 h) for intra-arterial alteplase. Two patients died (one owing to massive infarction and brain herniation, and one owing to brainstem infarction). At discharge from hospital, one patient was healthy and 12 patients had neurological deficits. Intracranial haemorrhage after alteplase occurred in four of 15 patients, although none of the bleeding events was judged to be acutely symptomatic. When compared with ten patients reported in published articles who were given intravenous alteplase, the nine patients in the IPSS cohort were mostly younger, waited longer for treatment, and had worse outcomes, which suggests there is a publication bias towards short treatment intervals from symptom onset and favourable outcomes. Interpretation: Children with acute stroke received alteplase infrequently and at time intervals that often deviated from adult guidelines. Although no alteplase-related deaths or symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage was reported, poor neurological outcome was common. Clinical trials to evaluate the dose and the safety and efficacy of alteplase are needed in childhood stroke. Funding: Child Neurology Foundation; Canadian Stroke Network. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]