Chronic infantile hypoxia

Everyone knows about hypoxia. Hypoxia means lack of oxygen, which can cause a feeling of suffocation. Hypoxia does not only occur in adults, sometimes newborns also experience symptoms of hypoxia. Neonatal hypoxia is mainly brain hypoxia, which is also a type of brain disease. Secondly, because hypoxia has a very big impact on the growth and development of infants, unless it is mild hypoxia, it is very easy to leave sequelae. The following is a detailed introduction to the relevant knowledge about infant hypoxia.

Causes of cerebral hypoxia in newborns

Neonatal cerebral hypoxia refers to hypoxic-ischemic damage to the brain caused by perinatal asphyxia. A series of encephalopathy manifestations appear clinically. This disease not only seriously threatens the life of newborns, but is also one of the most common causes of disability in post-neonatal children. The main causes of neonatal cerebral hypoxia are maternal factors, placental abnormalities, fetal factors, umbilical cord blood blockage, delivery process factors, neonatal diseases, etc.

Perinatal asphyxia is the main cause of this disease. Anything that causes obstruction of blood circulation and gas exchange between the mother and fetus, resulting in a decrease in blood oxygen concentration, can cause suffocation. 50% are caused by intrauterine asphyxia; 40% are caused by asphyxia during delivery; and 10% are caused by congenital diseases.

The symptoms of neonatal cerebral hypoxia are divided into three categories according to their degree:

1. Mild: hyperarousal, irritable, excited and highly agitated (shaking, tremor), normal muscle tone, active hugging reflex, normal sucking reflex, stable breathing, no convulsions. The symptoms usually disappear gradually within 3 days and the prognosis is good.

2. Moderate: Depressed state, drowsiness or light coma, hypotonia, 50% of cases have convulsions, respiratory arrest and weakened hugging and sucking reflexes. The decrease in muscle tone in the upper limbs of full-term babies is more serious than that in the lower limbs, suggesting that the lesion involves the parasagittal sinus area. If a premature baby shows that the lower limb muscle tone is more severe than the upper limb, it indicates that the lesion is periventricular leukomalacia. If symptoms persist for more than 7-10 days, there may be sequelae.

3. Severe: The child is in a coma, with extremely low and loose muscle tone, disappearance of hug reflex and tendon reflex, unequal pupils, poor reaction to light, bulging anterior fontanelle, frequent convulsions, irregular or stopped breathing, and even respiratory failure. The mortality rate among children with severe disease is high, and survivors often have sequelae.

Treatment of cerebral hypoxia in newborns

In order to prevent the occurrence of perinatal asphyxia, we must continuously improve obstetric technology, deal with intrauterine distress in a timely manner, and end delivery as soon as possible. Infants who suffer asphyxia after birth should be resuscitated promptly to reduce the incidence of HIE.

It is generally believed that if after comprehensive resuscitation measures, the patient still does not recover spontaneous breathing or the Apgar score is still below 1 point after 20 minutes of rescue, the brain has suffered serious and irreversible damage.