Turkish Neurosurgery 2008 , Vol 18 , Num 4
Posttraumatic Infarction in the Basal Ganglia after a Minor Head Injury in a Child: Case Report
Hakan SEÇKİN1, Adnan Yalçın DEMİRCİ2, Aydan DEĞERLİYURT3, Murat DAĞLI4, Murad BAVBEK5
1,2,4,5Ministry of Health Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt Research and Training Hospital, 2nd Neurosurgery Clinic, Ankara, Turkey
3Ministry of Health Ankara Dışkapı Children's Research and Training Hospital, Pediatric Neurology Clinic, Ankara, Turkey
We present a case of posttraumatic infarction in the territory supplied by the lateral lenticulostriate artery after a minor head injury in a child. A 2.5-year-old child was admited to our emergency room after a head-on fall from a height of 50cm. He developed a right hemiparesis and he could not speak properly for about half an hour. An initial computerized tomography of the head taken two hours after the accident was normal. A follow-up CT obtained two days later revealed a hypodense lesion at the left basal ganglia and a diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging disclosed an area of infarction. The patient was conservatively medicated and full recovery was made in three weeks. Hospital admission, careful observation and early diffusion-weighted MR examination should be considered for patients with persistent neurological deficits. Keywords : Brain hemorrhage, Traumatic, Basal ganglia, Infarction, Hemiparesis, Children
Corresponding author : Hakan Seçkin, hakanseckin@tr.net