The authors describe the clinical picture and radiological findings in four children with focal ischaemia of the brain. In all instances the children developed after a trivial injury or during physical activity a sudden or gradual purely motor disorder with or without expressive aphasia. CT and the angiographic finding were in all children identical. In the CT of the brain made 1–8 days after development of the motor disorder there were hypodensities in the area of the basal ganglia. In the angiographic finding there were irregularities of the lumen of the internal carotid in a supraclinoidal position, of the initial portion of the middle and anterior cerebral artery and in two instances complete occlusion of the middle cerebral artery. The examinations were repeated after 9-month to 3-year intervals after onset of the disease. In the CT the picture of postmalatic cysts in the area of basal ganglia persisted, the angiographic finding improved in three children, in one child it was normal. Phatic disorders improved in all children, in two children the motor disorder persists. The mentioned clinical picture and radiological findings are typical for a dissecting aneurysm of the internal carotid and cerebral arteries. A dissecting aneu- rysm can be the cause of focal ischaemia of the brain in children and in etiologically obscure cases this possibility must be taken into account.

        Key words: stroke, children, dissecting aneurysm of intracranial arteries