Cerebral infarction and activated protein C resistance

Ischemic stroke in pediatric patients is a rare event for which the contributing role of clotting disorders is debated. A severe ischemic stroke occurred in a four-year-old boy without any of the known risk factors (cardiac cause of embolism, vasculitis, sickle cell disease, metabolic disease, and lupus anticoagulant). Resistance to activated protein C was found in the child and his mother. The role of this inherited predisposition to thrombosis in the occurrence of the clinical event is discussed. This case confirms the need for an exhaustive study of hemostasis in all pediatric patients with stroke.