Acutely presenting ataxia in children may be due to infectious, inflammatory, toxic, ischemic, or traumatic etiology. Intermittent or episodic ataxia in children may be manifestations of migraine, benign positional vertigo, or intermittent metabolic disorders. Whereas nonprogressive childhood ataxia suggests a congenital brain malformation or early prenatal or perinatal brain injury, progressive childhood ataxia may be due to inherited causes or acquired posterior fossa lesions that result in gradual cerebellar dysfunction. Reprint requests to: publications@acr.org Although MIBG (iodine-123 meta-iodobenzylguanidine) and CT imaging of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis is used in specific workup of children presenting with opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome, for diagnosing underlying neuroblastoma or ganglioneuroblastoma, they may not typically be the first line of imaging. It should be noted that opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome is one of the less common presentations of tumors such as neuroblastoma or ganglioneuroblastoma. A complete description of signs and symptoms of neuroblastoma or ganglioneuroblastoma and their workup are beyond the scope of this document. Ataxia-Child Cerebellar stroke is a rare cause of acute ataxia in children, with one series identifying 3 cases out of 364 children presenting to the emergency department with acute ataxia [26]. Despite its rarity, diagnosing acute cerebellar infarct is critical because of implications for appropriate diagnostic workup and management. Collective assessment of several studies suggests that, although acute imaging may reveal a clinically urgent condition [1,7,21,22,25-27], the yield of clinically significant findings may be highest in children >3 years of age with symptoms for >3 days duration and in the presence of extracerebellar symptoms, such as somnolence, encephalopathy, focal motor weakness, or cranial nerve involvement [13,18,20,26].
Ataxia Child. Acutely presenting ataxia in children may be due to infectious, inflammatory, toxic, ischemic, or traumatic etiology. Intermittent or episodic ataxia in children may be manifestations of migraine, benign positional vertigo, or intermittent metabolic disorders. Whereas nonprogressive childhood ataxia suggests a congenital brain malformation or early prenatal or perinatal brain injury, progressive childhood ataxia may be due to inherited causes or acquired posterior fossa lesions that result in gradual cerebellar dysfunction. Reprint requests to: publications@acr.org Although MIBG (iodine-123 meta-iodobenzylguanidine) and CT imaging of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis is used in specific workup of children presenting with opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome, for diagnosing underlying neuroblastoma or ganglioneuroblastoma, they may not typically be the first line of imaging. It should be noted that opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome is one of the less common presentations of tumors such as neuroblastoma or ganglioneuroblastoma. A complete description of signs and symptoms of neuroblastoma or ganglioneuroblastoma and their workup are beyond the scope of this document. Ataxia-Child Cerebellar stroke is a rare cause of acute ataxia in children, with one series identifying 3 cases out of 364 children presenting to the emergency department with acute ataxia [26]. Despite its rarity, diagnosing acute cerebellar infarct is critical because of implications for appropriate diagnostic workup and management. Collective assessment of several studies suggests that, although acute imaging may reveal a clinically urgent condition [1,7,21,22,25-27], the yield of clinically significant findings may be highest in children >3 years of age with symptoms for >3 days duration and in the presence of extracerebellar symptoms, such as somnolence, encephalopathy, focal motor weakness, or cranial nerve involvement [13,18,20,26].