Asphyxia of a newborn is a condition that may occur at birth or immediately after it, as a result of lack of oxygen, which leads to acidosis. As a result of this process failure affects at least two vital systems, such as the lungs, the heart, the brain, the kidneys, and the blood system. The prevalence of asphyxia of the newborn is 0.3% -1.8% of all births. The cause is not known in all cases. In half of the cases that require resuscitation during childbirth, predictive signs of this appear.
The Apgar score given to a newborn at birth reflects his condition and the extent to which he needs resuscitation. This test is based on five measures: breathing, pulse, color, muscle tone, and reaction to excitement, and this mark is determined during the first minute of the child''s life, after 5 minutes, and ten minutes, depending on the situation of the newborn. There is no direct relationship between Apgar sign and the emergence of future brain damage. Signs that indicate future brain damage include: lack of independent pulse after complete resuscitation within ten minutes, decreased self-breathing indication after about 30 minutes, and severe imbalance in gas concentration in the blood, which is an indicator of acidity and persistent hypoxia (hypoxia).
Asphyxiation of the newborn may lead to systemic depression, leading to death. The recovery period can sometimes be associated with long-term damage, particularly to the nervous system.
Regression in the nervous system is classified into three stages
Agitation, hyper-reaction to stimuli, rapid pulse, tremors and dilated pupils. It is at this point that the EEG result is intact.
The newborn is drowsy, relaxed, and regresses consciousness. And his pulse is slow, his pupil is narrow, and a newborn''s saliva will be slow, without being able to swallow its secretions. At this stage, seizures can occur, and an EEG abnormality can be observed in the brain''s work.
The child suffers from delirium or coma, lies still, and cannot be stimulated to make any reaction. At this stage, seizures are more common and the brain defect can be seen on the EEG.
At birth, or immediately after it, imaging methods do not usually indicate the severity of the effect, but they do contribute to evaluating the defect in the long term with continuous follow-up. The methods used are - ultrasound, CT and MRI.
The child''s future performance is related to the factors that led to suffocation before birth, the severity of the acute injury, and the permanent damage that occurred. The aim of continuous treatment is to enable the injured newborn to utilize the maximum of his ability to deal with the resulting damage.
Symptoms of asphyxiation of a newborn
Sometimes the expression of the child''s distress is by the mother''s sense of diminished movement. Follow-up of the child''s behavior with ultrasound, which has an incorrect result, noting an imbalance when monitoring the fetal pulse, an abnormal pH of the scalp, during the birth process, when the fetus is in the womb, the amount of amniotic fluid Contaminated with faeces, all of these signs could indicate that the fetus is in distress.
Causes and risk factors of choking a newborn
Risk factors for the mother relate to poor placental resources, mainly caused by malfunction of the blood vessels in the placenta. This is characteristic of high blood pressure in the mother and eclampsia (preeclampsia). Newborn risk factors include: babies with a small size relative to gestational age, babies with intrauterine anemia, or babies suffering from diseases or disabilities. Complications during childbirth such as continuous pregnancy for a period of more than 42 weeks, induction or with the help of devices (forceps (forceps) and vacuum (ventilation)), and an abnormal position of the fetus, all of these factors lead to the risk of suffocation of the newborn.
Treating asphyxia of a newborn
The immediate treatment for asphyxia of the newborn lies in resuscitation of the heart and lungs, and in drug therapy, with the aim of re-oxygenating the tissues and preventing long-term damage. The treatment includes balancing the blood salt concentration, sugar and acid-base balance. And then drug treatment according to the affected devices.
Since the tissue injury during asphyxia is acute, there is a limited period during which treatment can be provided in order to prevent future complications. Recently, some medical centers are experimenting with cooling the head of al-Walid with the aim of suppressing the processes that occur during hypoxia that cause constant damage to brain cells.
Currently, treatment with allopurinol, steroids, and calcium pump blockers and magnesium sulfate are part of drug therapy attempts.
