Abstract

Perinatal brain injury is an important cause of both early and long term morbidity and mortality. The pathophysiology of perinatal brain injury is complex, and often gestation dependent. Ultrasound has traditionally been the imaging modality of choice used to diagnose these lesions; however, the advent of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has improved diagnosis and has enabled the correlation of lesions in the neonatal period with longer term neurodevelopmental sequelae. This review aims to address injury in both the term and pre-term brain, its relationship with long term outcome as well as discussing potential treatment strategies which may be deployed in the future.

Keywords: Perinatal brain injury, pre-term, neonatal outcome, hypoxia, ischemia