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Tuesday, January 30, 2007A quarter of babies born vaginally suffer small hemorrhages in their brains, perhaps from compression of the head during delivery, according to researchers who performed the first high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging studies on healthy newborns. ....The Carolina researchers studied 88 newborns, an average of three weeks after birth. Seventeen of the 65 who underwent vaginal delivery suffered small hemorrhages in the brain, but none did of the 23 who had C-sections. That shouldn't be construed to mean that C-sections are safer than vaginal births. They have their own morbidity - such as risks of anesthesia and surgery in general. These brain hemorrhages were asymptomatic. There's no evidence the infants suffered any consequences from them, as the researchers themselves point out in the article. If anything, it provides some reassurance when small bleeds are seen on CT scans or ultrasounds done for other reasons. They are most likely incidental and of no permanent signficance. posted by Sydney on 1/30/2007 01:09:00 PM 1 comments 1 Comments:
Babies born by vacuum extraction often get tiny retinal hemorrhages, but they don't seem to mean anything, either. By 6:52 PM , at |
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