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Thalamic infarct presenting as apparent life‐threatening event in infants
Author(s) -
Gupta Sachin,
Fernandez Daphin,
Siddiqui Ata,
Lin JeanPierre,
Garside Lydia,
Lim Ming
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2009.01491.x
Subject(s) - medicine , neuroimaging , infarction , magnetic resonance imaging , basal ganglia , thalamus , ischemia , neuroscience , functional magnetic resonance imaging , cardiology , radiology , central nervous system , psychiatry , psychology , myocardial infarction
Thalamic infarction with distinct manifestations is well‐described in adults but less well‐delineated in children. We report two infants who presented with an apparent life‐threatening event (ALTE) with very early magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrating a unilateral thalamic infarction. Subsequent MRI demonstrated bilateral changes in the brain stem and basal ganglia, which were in keeping with profound hypoxic ischaemic injury. We propose the thalamic infarction to be the primary event precipitating a profound hypoxic ischaemic injury as an alternative explanation to the neuroimaging observation. Conclusion: Thalamic infraction may have a causal role in ALTE. Early and appropriate neuroimaging is required to detect these changes.