Perinatal encephalopathy.

Perinatal encephalopathy is a pathology that develops in a fetus or newborn due to insufficient oxygen supply to the brain, and is one of the most common lesions of the nervous system of newborns. Depending on how long the oxygen starvation process lasted, local edema up to necrosis may develop in the brain.

The consequences of this disease can manifest themselves in the form of impaired brain function, hydrocephalic syndrome, and vegetative-vascular dystonia.

The perinatal period is divided into antenatal (begins at the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy and ends with the birth process), intranatal (birth process), and early neonatal (the first seven days after birth).

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What causes perinatal encephalopathy?

Factors that provoke perinatal encephalopathy:

• The age of the mother is less than twenty and more than thirty-five years;
• Pregnancy accompanied by pathologies of various nature - infectious diseases, exposure to toxins, diabetes;
• Taking medications during pregnancy that pose a threat to the development of the fetus;
• Early placental abruption;
• Labor that begins much earlier than expected, or, conversely, does not occur on time;
• Factors that negatively affect the birth process: too narrow a pelvis, premature discharge of amniotic fluid, umbilical cord entanglement around the fetus’s neck, a long or, conversely, rapid birth process;
• Trauma during the birth process;
• Multiple pregnancy.

Symptoms of perinatal encephalopathy

The initial manifestation of this pathology may be a late or too weak and painful cry of the baby at birth. The child does not have a sucking reflex, sleep, heartbeat, and motor activity are disturbed. If these symptoms do not disappear after several days, they may be joined by a violation of muscle tone, developmental delay, dysfunction of the gastrointestinal tract, manifested in the form of dysbacteriosis, insufficient weight gain, poor absorption of food.

Since the first weeks after birth are when the foundations of neuropsychic development are formed in the baby, careful observation of the infant's behavioral reactions is required. Alarming symptoms may include restlessness, weakness and lethargy, involuntary twitching, constant or frequent regurgitation as a result of eating, dilated pupils, anxious reaction to extraneous sounds and light, throwing back the head during crying.

How is perinatal encephalopathy recognized?

The detection of this pathology is based on the analysis of all available information regarding the course of pregnancy, childbirth, the baby's well-being immediately after birth, and also includes an examination by a neurologist and ophthalmologist. For a more accurate diagnosis of the disease, the following methods are used:

• neurosonography - determination of the anatomical features of the brain through the fontanelle;
• Dopplerography is a method used to determine the level of blood supply to the brain or neck, as well as areas where blood vessels are narrowed or blocked;
• computed tomography – a study of changes in brain tissue that were not sufficiently determined by other examination methods;
• Electroencephalography - this method allows to identify potential areas of epileptic activity.

The baby's condition is assessed using criteria such as reflexes, muscle tone, skin color, breathing and heartbeat.

How is perinatal encephalopathy treated?

As a treatment, drugs are used to improve cerebral blood circulation (for example, actovegin), and symptomatic therapy is also prescribed - anticonvulsants and diuretics, vitamin therapy, courses of therapeutic massage, as well as homeopathic and herbal preparations. During the rehabilitation period, the child should be under the supervision and control of a pediatric neurologist.

Prevention of such a pathology as perinatal encephalopathy consists of the expectant mother maintaining a healthy lifestyle, consuming healthy natural products, completely abstaining from nicotine and alcohol, timely treatment of toxicosis, as well as competent guidance and assistance from an obstetrician-gynecologist during the birth process.