Mineralizing Microangiopathy of Lenticulostriate Arteries with Basal Ganglia Infarct in an Infant Following Trivial Trauma: A Case Report

Association between trivial head trauma and basal ganglia infarct has been reported frequently in the recent years. We present the case of an infant who presented with neurological deficits following trivial head trauma and in whom all the routine hematological and laboratory investigations were unremarkable. Nonenhanced computed tomography imaging of the brain demonstrated calcification of lenticulostriate arteries in bilateral gangliothalamic complexes with a hypodense area in the left lentiform nucleus centered around one of the calcified vessels consistent with an infarct. It is hypothesized that a severe persistent form of fetal sonographic lenticulostriate vasculopathy that later undergoes mineralization predisposes infants to thrombosis following infarct, precipitating an infarct. Mineralizing microangiopathy is an underlying cause of infantile stroke and generally carries a good prognosis.