Birth trauma is a whole complex of diseases (specifically injuries) that can occur in a newborn during pregnancy or directly during childbirth itself.
Birth injuries distinguish between hypoxic (associated with a lack of oxygen) and mechanical.
Hypoxic injuries are represented by damage to the spinal cord, brain, or internal organs that arise as a result of hypoxia in the newborn or fetus.
Mechanical birth injury:
- birth tumor;
- nerve damage;
- hemorrhages in muscle tissue;
- bone fracture;
- cephalohematoma.
Predisposing factors for birth trauma:
- prematurity;
- low or too large fetal mass;
- protracted or fleeting birth;
- In addition, the application of forceps creates a high risk of birth injury.
In fact, birth trauma is nothing but the inevitable result of the birth process. That is, it is present in each specific case of childbirth, the difference is only in its degree. Birth trauma is formed as a result of mechanical interaction of the fetus and mother. In some cases, this process activates the protective and adaptive forces of the child, and in others (with the depletion of compensatory forces) it helps to weaken the adaptation of the child.
The most common manifestation of trauma is a birth injury to the head. The following head injuries are distinguished: birth tumor and cephalohematoma.
A birth tumor is nothing more than an edema of the soft tissues of the head of the woman who is to the birth canal. As a result of compression of the soft tissues, venous stasis is formed, often with petechial hemorrhage under the skin. Most often, this type of birth injury occurs in primogenous mothers, with long-term births, as well as with a large, relatively birth canal, fetus. The consequences to her disappear within a week.
Hemorrhage under the periosteum of the bones of the skull - cephalohematoma, develops as a result of displacement of the skin with the periosteum during the passage of the fetus through the birth canal. Over time (during the first two to three days after birth), blood accumulates in the hematoma, as a result, the tumor grows.
If we talk about hemorrhage in muscle tissue, then most often it occurs in the sternoclavicular muscle. A tumor forms at the site of hemorrhage (1-2 weeks after birth). In the future, hemorrhage manifests itself with the child's head tilted to the sick side (torticollis), while the chin is directed in the opposite direction.
As for bone fractures, the most common in obstetric practice is a collarbone fracture. A fracture occurs as a result of the pathology of both the birth itself and the provision of obstetric benefits.
Speaking of nerve damage, it is worth noting the high frequency of damage to the facial nerve. In addition, damage to the brachial plexus is often found.
The most dangerous birth injury is intracranial birth injury. The danger in this case is that this injury causes damage to the brain as a result of brain edema or hemorrhage. There are three degrees of severity of intracranial birth injury: mild, moderate and severe. A severe degree steadily leads to the formation of a persistent pathology of the nervous system (both central and peripheral). The acute period is characterized by the excitation of the central nervous system of the newborn, characterized by anxiety, convulsions, crying, insomnia, tremor of the limbs of the child. At the same time, the reflexes of swallowing and sucking are inhibited. In the subsequent period of excitement, a state of lethargy and a decrease in muscle tone changes, the cry of the child becomes weak, the skin is pale, the child is too drowsy. Often there are repeated attacks of suffocation.
Thus, birth trauma is a frequent, and most importantly, a significant problem, leading to serious consequences.