Question
Hello, my son is three days old, weighing 7.5 pounds after cesarean section, and all his body indicators are normal. The afternoon of the day he was born, a small hematoma was found on the right side of his head. The doctor said to observe for two days as it didn’t get bigger. The CT scan showed mild hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Do I need treatment? Thank you.
Answer
I’ve never heard of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy before, and it can be diagnosed with just a CT scan. Can the doctor not look at clinical symptoms? At least there should be manifestations like irritability or seizures to consider this. You might want to ask your attending physician if the child has any clinical symptoms. Secondly, the child was doing well at birth, and since it was full-term, the risk factors for HIE in the medical history are not high. Therefore, I think there should be a question mark in the diagnosis. The low-density focus on the CT scan, I think MRI can show it more clearly. It should be followed up as a special project in the future. Pay attention to whether there is brain ventricle enlargement or white matter softening.