Long-term outcome after neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy
- 1Department of Neonatology, University Medical Centre Utrecht/Wilhelmina Children's Hospital and Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- 2Department of Paediatric Psychology, University Medical Centre Utrecht/Wilhelmina Children's Hospital and Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Correspondence to Professor Linda S de Vries, Department of Neonatology, University Medical Centre Utrecht/Wilhelmina Children's Hospital and Utrecht University, KE 04.1231, PO Box 85090, 3508 AB Utrecht, The Netherlands; l.s.devries{at}umcutrecht.nl
- Accepted 6 January 2010
Abstract
Outcome of full-term infants with neonatal encephalopathy of hypoxic-ischemic origin is often assessed in infancy or early childhood and data on outcome in childhood and adolescence is limited. MRI performed in the neonatal period has made a huge contribution to recognition of different patterns of injury. These different patterns of injury are related to the severity of later motor and cognitive disabilities.
Long-term follow-up shows that cognitive and memory difficulties may follow even in children without motor deficits. It is therefore recommended to perform follow-up assessment into childhood in children with and without adverse neurological outcome in early infancy.
Footnotes
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Competing interests None.
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Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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Patient consent Parental consent obtained.
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Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the University Medical Centre Utrecht.
