Smog in children is complex and needs to be diagnosed with care

  Smog is called smog because the pattern of dilated blood vessels during imaging resembles the smoke exhaled during smoking. The incidence of smog in Eastern countries is 20 times higher than that in Western countries, and the clinical manifestations of smog in children are particularly complex and poorly reported, which may lead to misdiagnosis and delayed treatment.  The results of a multidisciplinary study group on the distribution characteristics and first clinical features of 78 cases of childhood smog admitted in recent years showed that the age of onset of childhood smog ranged from 18 months to 17 years, with the peak incidence between 5 and 10 years, and slightly more girls than boys. Among them, 92.3% were ischemic type and only 7.7% were hemorrhagic type; nearly 40% of the children had persistent paralysis. The first symptoms of ischemic children are mostly weakness, headache, numbness and twitching of the limbs, etc. The above-mentioned symptoms can also exist independently or be accompanied by other secondary symptoms. The first symptom of children with hemorrhagic type is headache with disturbance of consciousness.  Studies have shown that the first symptoms vary by age of the child. In early childhood, only limb weakness and twitching are seen; in preschool, headache and limb numbness begin to appear in addition to limb weakness and twitching; after school age, visual impairment and involuntary movements begin to appear. After the first transient ischemic attack, with progressive cerebrovascular stenosis and occlusion, the child may develop cerebral infarction, mostly in the frontotemporoparietal lobe, with cerebrovascular lesions mainly involving the internal carotid artery system, and multiple groups of cerebral ischemic symptoms, such as hemiparesis, memory loss, and visual impairment. The site of hemorrhage is mostly in the ventricular system, followed by the basal ganglia, thalamus and frontotemporal lobe.  Professor Zhang of the neurosurgery department of the hospital said that smog is a chronic occlusive cerebrovascular disease, and the cerebral blood flow of the children in the stress state will suddenly drop rapidly, and acute cerebral infarction will occur when the collateral circulation cannot compensate. Therefore, Zhang Dong especially emphasized that children should minimize the sudden drop of cerebral blood flow due to hyperventilation and adverse stimulation. For treatment, Zhang Dong suggests that it varies from person to person depending on the condition. In general, children can be treated symptomatically; in typical cases, surgery can be used to reconstruct blood flow and improve the prognosis. However, children who have already had a cerebral infarction are not as effective in treatment. Therefore, early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment are necessary for children with ischemic symptoms.