Fetal and Neonatal Brain Injury

Section I: Possible causes of acquired fetal and neonatal brain injury. 1: Epidemiology of perinatal asphyxia. 2: Mechanisms of Ischaemic-cell injury. 3: Ischaemia-Reperfusion Injury. 4: Experimental models of perinatal brain inury. 5: Endogenous neuroprotective mechanisms: Their implications for therapeutic intervention. 6: Fetal response to asphyxia. 7: Prematurity and complications of labor and delivery. 8: Intrauterine growth retardation. 9: Congenital malformations of the brain. 10: Haemorrhagic lesions of the central nervous system. Section II: Environmental causes of acquired fetal and neonatal brain injury. 1: The use of intrapartum fetal heart rate monitoring to reduce perinatal asphyxia in the term infant. 2: Tocolytic therapy for preterm labor. 3: Fetal and neonatal injury as a consequence of maternal substance abuse. 4: Neurological sequelae of congenital infections. 5: Neonatal bacterial meningitis. 6: Perinatal HIV infection. 7: Metabolic disorders of the mother affecting the fetus. Setion III: Diagnosing the infant with asphyxia. 1: Hypoxemic-ischaemic encephalopathy. 2: Use of the electroencephalogram in assessing acute brain damage in the newborn. 3: Imaging of neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic cerebral damage. 4.: Correlation of clinical findings and timing of the asphyxial event. 5.: Neonatal asphyxic brain injury. Section IV: Management of the depressed or neurologically dysfunctional infant. 1: Immediate management. 2: Extended management. 3: The management of neonatal seizures. 4: Nutritional support of the asphyxiated infant. Section V: Specific abnormalities associated with fetal and neonatal brain injury. 1: Hypoglycemia in the neonate. 2: Hemaologic disorders: anemia, polycythemia and hyperbilirubinemia. 3: Acidosis/alkalosis. 4: Hydrops fetalis. 5: Polycythemia. 6: Meconium staining and the meconium aspiration syndrome. 7: Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn