Encephalopathy and Cerebral Palsy

Neonatal encephalopathy is a clinical syndrome which is identified by a combination of various signs. Abnormal consciousness, tone and reflexes, difficulty feeding, trouble with respiration, or seizures are all signs which can point to encephalopathy. It can be caused by a wide range of conditions.

Encephalopathy does not necessarily result in permanent neurological damage, such as cerebral palsy. It is fairly well established however that for a baby to develop cerebral palsy, they would first have to progress through neonatal encephalopathy.

For this reason, it is important that doctors study the causes and prevention of neonatal encephalopathy. If they can successfully decrease the likelyhood of a baby suffering enchephalopathy, they can decrease the likelyhood of that child developing cerebral palsy (and a host of other conditions). This page links to various efforts to do just that.

• Can the Griffiths scales predict neuromotor and perceptual-motor impairment in term infants with neonatal encephalopathy?
• Multiorgan dysfunction in infants with post-asphyxial hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy.
• One-year neurodevelopmental outcome after moderate newborn hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy.
• Perinatal stroke in term infants with neonatal encephalopathy.
• Suggestions for practice to accompany neonatal encephalopathy and cerebral palsy.
• S100 protein in serum as a prognostic marker for cerebral injury in term newborn infants with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.
• The "Bermuda triangle" of neonatal neurology: cerebral palsy, neonatal encephalopathy, and intrapartum asphyxia.
• Neonatal Encephalopathy and Cerebral Palsy Revisited: the Current State of Knowledge and the Impact of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Task Force Report.
• Cerebral palsy following term newborn encephalopathy: a population-based study.
• Neonatal brain MRI and motor outcome at school age in children with neonatal encephalopathy: a review of personal experience.
• Epileptic and imaging findings in perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy with ulegyria.
• Defining the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of neonatal encephalopathy and cerebral palsy.
• Brain function peculiarities in premature babies and infants with perinatal encephalopathy and cerebral palsy.
• Neonatal encephalopathy and cerebral palsy: a knowledge survey of Fellows of The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.