Abstract

Background: Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy in adults and older children (i.e. not
neonates), also known as global hypoxic-ischaemic injury, is seen in many settings and
often has devastating neurological sequelae. Magnetic Resonance imaging—has the
potential to play a significant role in diagnosis and early intervention in cases of HII. In
addition, imaging studies performed in the subacute stages of injury provide information
on the severity and extent of injury and can be helpful in predicting long-term outcome.
Material and Methods: This prospective study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching
hospital, over a period of 1 year. A total of 70 patients with history of birth asphyxia were
included in the study who underwent MRI of brain and were followed up clinically at the
end of one year to assess the neurological outcome.
Result: A total of 70 patients who fulfilled the selection criteria during the study were
enrolled. Of the 70 babies, 46 were males and 24 females, which correspond to 65.7% of
male and the rest female babies. The maximum number of patients were in the age group
of <1 year which were 47.1% (n =33) of total followed by age group 2–12 months having
34.2% (n = 24) in this group and 18.5% were more than 1 year. In our study, maximum
patients, i.e., 48.5% (n = 34) were having Apgar score of 4-6 followed by ≤3 score were
32.8% and least were > 7 score were 18.5%. In HIE 2 cases, 28.5% had involvement of
corpus callosam. 27.1% had PVL, 18.5% had basal ganglia or thalamus lesion. There was
no MRI evidence of HIE in 25.7%.
Conclusion: HIE is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the neonatal period.
MRI show characteristic pattern of brain injury and help to exclude other causes of
encephalopathy. Imaging plays an important role in early diagnosis and timely
intervention, thereby reducing the severity of neonatal brain injury.