Children's Medical Center Initiates Study to Diagnose and Treat Pediatric Strokes

Children's Medical Center Initiates Study to Diagnose and Treat Pediatric Strokes
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
By: Children's Medical Center Dallas

Children's Medical Center Dallas

Children's Medical Center Dallas (Children's) is launching a critical stroke initiative to diagnose and treat strokes in children. Pediatric strokes is a little-known condition that occurs as often as leukemia and brain tumors but often is not recognized by parents or physicians, despite the serious short- and long-term health consequences. As part of this effort, Children's will be one of four research sites in North America participating in this groundbreaking research.

"Pediatric stroke research is in its infancy," said Dr. Michael Dowling, medical director of Children's Pediatric Stroke Program. "We've simply got to find out why children suffer strokes."

At the American Heart Association's International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles last week, Dowling presented his research on "silent strokes," episodes that present few, in any, obvious symptoms but cause patches of the brain to die.