Association between neonatal Volkmann’s syndrome and perinatal ischemic stroke: Review of the literature

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Neonatal forearm compartment syndrome, also known as neonatal Volkmann's syndrome, is an uncommon condition for which the pathognomonic finding is the presence of a forearm skin lesion. Stroke in newborns occurs in about 1/1600-5000 births. Aim of the present review is to highlight the possible association of these two conditions. METHODS: we performed a review concerning the association of both these conditions. RESULTS: We found only few reports on the association of an ischemic limb injury and a perinatal stroke combined in the same newborn. CONCLUSIONS: In light of the high percentage of delayed diagnosis of perinatal stroke, we recommend to perform an accurate neurological evaluation and eventual neuroimaging studies in order to investigate for a cerebral vascular damage and, furthermore, to rule out thrombophilic conditions in infants with signs of a neonatal ischemic limb and/or Volkmann's syndrome.