Cerebral blood flow and cognitive outcome after pediatric stroke in the middle cerebral artery

Abstract

Adaptive recovery of cerebral perfusion after pediatric arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) is sought to be crucial for sustainable rehabilitation of cognitive functions. We therefore examined cerebral blood flow in the chronic stage after stroke and its association with cognitive outcome in patients after pediatric arterial ischemic stroke (AIS). This cross-sectional study investigated cerebral blood flow and cognitive functions in 14 patients (age 13.5 ± 4.4 years) after pediatric AIS in the middle cerebral artery (time since AIS was at least 2 years prior to assessment) when compared with 36 healthy controls (aged 13.8 ± 4.3 years). Cognitive functions were assessed using neuropsychological tests and cerebral blood flow was measured with arterial spin labeled imaging in the area of the anterior, middle, and posterior cerebral artery (ACA, MCA, PCA). Patients had significantly lower IQ scores and poorer cognitive functions compared to healthy controls. Arterial spin labeled imaging revealed significantly lower cerebral blood flow in the ipsilesional MCA and PCA in patients compared to healthy controls. Further, we found significantly higher interhemispheric perfusion imbalance in the MCA in patients compared to controls. Higher interhemispheric perfusion imbalance in the MCA was significantly associated with lower working memory performance. Our findings revealed that even years after pediatric stroke in the MCA, reduced ipsilesional cerebral blood flow occurs in the MCA and PCA and interhemispheric imbalance is associated with cognitive performance. Thus, our data suggest that cerebral hypoperfusion might underlie some of the variability observed in long-term outcome after pediatric stroke.