Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS) in the pediatric age group is a complex disease with a variety of etiologies that differ from those in an adult population. The difference is primarily because of predominance of congenital and genetic causes. Even though pediatric stroke is rare, with an estimated annual incidence of 1–6 per 100,000 children, early diagnosis and initiation of treatment will results in excellent prognosis. Hence it is imperative to diagnose it early to avoid potential devastating consequences.
We report a healthy 10 year old male child who presented with acute onset of weakness of left upper and lower limbs with left UMN facial palsy of 6 hours duration. Neuroimaging showed acute non-hemorrhagic infarcts. He was treated with antiplatelet drug (Aspirin), physiotherapy and he made a remarkable deficit free recovery. He was thoroughly evaluated considering all possible etiologies but no conclusive evidence was found and his stroke was labelled as cryptogenic in origin. Majority of pediatric stroke are finally reported being cryptogenic in origin, as no clear etiology is often found. Cryptogenic strokes comprise 30 to 40 % of all adult ischemic strokes and approximately 50% in children. Paucity of cases reported and has resulted in no clear guidelines for the management of stroke in children being available.
