If a child has symptoms of stroke, he should be taken to a referral health unit immediately and investigations done. In addition to every child with sickle cell and anaemia should be subjected to the ultra sound to check for clots.
Couples should also do prenatal sickle cell checkup before getting married to minimise on the risks. SIGNS and SYMPTOMS OF CHILDHOOD STROKE: Children with stroke will first present with severe headache, incessant vomiting, especially in children with sickle cell anaemia, dizziness, recurring convulsions.
Others include unconsciousness, numbness in the face, arm or leg usually on one side of the body. The child experiences trouble walking due to weakness, or may have trouble moving one side of the body sometimes due to loss of coordination.
Forms of childhood stroke: it presents in two forms, ischemic and haemorrhage. With ischemic, brain injury is caused as a result of an obstruction with in a blood vessel supplying blood th the brain, while haemorrhage stroke results from a blood vessel bursting inside the brain, allowing blood to leak inside thus resulting in brain injury. Sickle cell anaemia is the commonest cause of childhood stroke, followed by HIV, congenital abnormalities and vascular malformations (blood vessel abnormalities).
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