Embolic Stroke and Carotid Artery Occlusion in an Infant with Dilated Cardiomyopathy Secondary to Acute Myocarditis

Abstract

We are reporting on an 11-month-old infant girl with two interesting findings. The first is dilated cardiomyopathy following an acute clinical course, which on presentation suggested acute myocarditis; two-dimensional echocardiographic findings showed severely-dilated left atrial and ventricular chambers as well as severe ventricular dysfunction. The second is the occurrence of right-sided middle cerebral artery stroke, with clinical manifestations of sudden onset left-sided hemiparalysis, secondary to right carotid artery occlusion. To the best of our knowledge, there is no previous report in the literature of this condition within a similar age group.