Abstract
Although the progress in perinatal medicine has remarkably lowered perinatal mortality, the incidence of intracranial hemorrhage seen in autopsied cases is increased.
To search for causes of this increase, 653 autopsied neonates dying at specified institutes between 1955 and 1986 were reviewed with regard to maternal and neonatal course during pregnancy and delivery and the clinical course of neonates.
Among significant pulmonary diseases as underlying diseases of brain lesions hyaline membrane disease, pneumonia and pulmonary bleeding- pulmonary bleeding was noticeably decreased, while the other two lesions remained almost unchaged. Regarding acute subdural bleeding due to injury during delivery, both Beneke type in mature infants and Trotter type in premature infants were increased. The incidence of intracerebral bleeding was obviously increased, and so it is not possible to simply attribute the occurrence of this bleeding to the immaturarity of cerebral vascular system and hypoxemia. Consequently, it is considered sig nificant that with the development of hypoxemia, the administration of sodium bicarbonate glucose transfusion provokes cerebral edema leading to compression of the internal cerebral veins in the fornix and considerable congestion of the thalamostriate veins.
