Early and long-term consequences of intrapartum asphyxia

The role of intrapartum asphyxia remains relatively obscure because of difficulties with definition and incidence of this problem. The importance of antenatal insults becomes more and more clear. When intrapartum asphyxia occurs, outcome can be very different depending on the duration and the extent of the asphyxia. Approximately 10-20% of children end up with a clinical picture of cerebral palsy. Many of these children develop cognitive and visual disturbances. The majority of children are normal to follow-up. Early magnetic resonance imaging can help to define the extent of the injury and correlate this finding with outcome.