[Brain injuries after transient circulatory and/or respiratory failure (cerebral hypoxic injury) in newborn infants].

A clinico-pathological survey of different types of cerebral hypoxic/ischemic injuries in foetuses and infants is presented. The lesions may occur before, during and after the birth. Some of them occur only in foetuses and infants less than two months old. The topic has been simplified in order to be useful as a basis for evaluating these lesions in daily diagnostic work. Cerebral hypoxic/ischemic injuries are frequently seen in preterm infants and term infants with severe cardiac anomalies. Extensive damage may be fatal or may involve severe permanent psychomotoric deficits in the survivors. The severity of the deficiencies depends on the type, location, and extent of damage. A severe lesion is a common cause of cerebral palsy, and a mild lesion is probably one cause of minimal brain dysfunction. Recent studies indicate that the lesions seen in preterm infants frequently occurred in utero. Thus, autopsies of perinatal deaths should include neuropathological examination of the brain to disclose possible cerebral/hypoxic damage, and its distribution, severity and age.