Is ischemia and hypoxia common in newborns?

We all know that when a newborn is born, the hospital will give the newborn a physical examination to see whether the various indicators in the newborn's body are normal and whether the newborn has some potential hidden diseases. Some newborns will suffer from ischemia and hypoxia during the physical examination. This phenomenon may be seen just after delivery when the child does not cry. So is ischemia and hypoxia common in newborns?

The main cause of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is asphyxia. When suffocation occurs, because the child cannot cry, the breathing and gas exchange of the child's lungs are obstructed; as we all know, the function of breathing is to allow oxygen to enter the blood, and then transport oxygen to the whole body through the blood for use by tissue cells.

When the oxygen concentration in the newborn's blood is insufficient, it will cause brain hypoxia. In addition, children who suffer asphyxia at birth will have a slower heartbeat, which will result in insufficient blood being delivered to the brain, thus causing cerebral ischemia. The pathological changes caused by all the above processes are collectively called: neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Specifically, neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy refers to hypoxic-ischemic damage to the brain caused by asphyxia in a period of time before and after the birth of the child. Children with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy usually develop a series of symptoms of brain dysfunction within one week after birth, especially within the first three days.

It usually manifests itself in symptoms such as irritability or drowsiness, spitting up, screaming, and convulsions. The severity of the disease is a comprehensive judgment made by the doctor based on the degree of asphyxia, symptoms and the range of lesions on brain CT. Patients with mild illness have a good prognosis and generally have no sequelae, while children with critical illness have a relatively high mortality rate, and survivors may have sequelae such as mental retardation, epilepsy and cerebral palsy.

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