PI: Christine K. Fox

STATUS: Active, Registry
FUNDING: Marc and Lynne Benioff Pediatric Stroke Research Fund

Stroke and neurovascular diseases are a leading cause of childhood brain injury. Neurovascular disease in children differs from that in adults in terms of risk factors, etiologies, and outcomes. A large population of pediatric patients with neurovascular conditions are followed at Benioff Children’s Hospital by the neurosurgical and neurovascular services, and through the UCSF Pediatric Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease Center.  These pediatric patients are followed over time, with standard clinical follow-up through hospital admission, in-person clinic visits or telephone follow-up by a neurovascular attending physician, clinical nurse, neurology fellow, or neurology resident physician. Extensive clinical information and cerebrovascular imaging is documented in the patient's chart to make clinical decisions.

Our knowledge of pediatric neurovascular disease is limited because of the relative rarity of pediatric stroke and the underlying diseases that place children at risk for stroke.  Further study will improve our understanding of the pathogenesis, management, and outcomes of rare pediatric neurovascular conditions. The large number of patients and the duration of follow-up for these patients and are not widely available at other centers. The patient population at UCSF provides a unique opportunity for study of pediatric neurovascular disease.  By analyzing clinical data and disseminating information, we can contribute substantially to the current knowledge about this specialized population.

This is a database of pediatric patients seen in the Pediatric Brain Center at Benioff Children’s Hospital, San Francisco who have had a stroke, are at risk of stroke or have other neurovascular disease. The proposed study involves retrospective and prospective chart review of pediatric patients with vascular disease of the brain and spine and creation of a database of demographics, clinical and imaging characteristics, risk factors for stroke and outcomes. The study will involve retrospective and prospective chart review only. No participants will be contacted or recruited for the purpose of this study.

The specific aim of this study is to gain further insight into the risk factors and outcomes of pediatric cerebrovascular disease by analysis of clinical data (including imaging data) through retrospective chart review.