Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome in pediatric patients: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management

Abstract

Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is well-described in adults, but has been reported with relative rarity in children, usually occurring in the context of chemotherapy for acute leukemia. Pathogenesis involves perturbed cerebral autoregulation leading to vasogenic edema predominantly affecting the parieto-occipital white matter, though involvement of the frontal and temporal lobes, as well as posterior fossa, is also described. We review the literature on the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of PRES in pediatric patients.

Keywords:

• PRES
• reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome
• chemotherapy
• hypertension
• pathogenesis
• leukemia
• ALL
• AML

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. All procedures performed in the studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Potential conflict of interest

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2019.1594210.