Prenatal and perinatal factors associated with brain disorders.

In April 1985, a report entitled "Prenatal and Perinatal Factors Associated with Brain Disorders" was published by the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke. A panel of ten individuals completed the report documenting the knowledge and the complexities of what is known with respect to brain damage that may develop before birth or in the neonatal period. It is clear that all stages of fetal and neonatal development influence normal outcome. Although intrapartal period events may explain a significant portion of cerebral palsy, the illness is often linked with confounding factors such as low birth weight and asphyxia. Pure epilepsy or pure mental retardation is rarely associated with intrapartal events. In general, the pathologic lesions seen in the brain may reflect many different fetal insults. The same clinical event such as asphyxia may result in varied intracranial diseases, which effects may depend on when the clinical events occurred.