Neonatal central nervous system vascular disorders

Central nervous system vascular disorders in the neonate comprise structural anomalies or malformations of arteries and veins and physiologic alterations of cerebral blood flow, which can mimic structural vascular disease. Clinical, imaging, and transcatheter therapeutic aspects of neonatal cerebral vascular malformations are described. Symptomatic high-flow vascular malformations characteristically present with cardiac failure and associated systemic problems in the neonate, whereas infants typically present with macrocephaly and hydrocephalus and older children with hemorrhage, developmental delay, or focal deficits. Neonatal cerebral hemorrhage is typically primary or associated with immaturity, parturitional trauma, or coagulopathy. Likewise, cerebral ischemic lesions are more likely secondary to hypoxic, ischemic events than to thromboembolic or structural cerebrovascular occlusive disease. The role of the current noninvasive imaging modalities in each of these clinical problems is reviewed and illustrated.