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Some recent studies of the number of cerebral palsy in preemies have presented some good news, sources have told a New York Birth Injury Attorney. One such study that was conducted at the University Medical Center Utrecht, located in the Netherlands, found that of those infants that were treated in their neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) between 1990 and 2005 that the rates of cerebral palsy decreased significantly.
Other such studies have experienced similar findings, such as study in Canada that recorded a decline in cerebral palsy over the past 30 year. Another study at the University of California, San Francisco, also noted that cases of cystic periventricular leukomalacia began to decrease after the 1990s.
Although there are some studies that do not show a decline, many researchers think that those studies include extreme preemies that are born in the 23rd or 24th weeks of pregnancy, while the current studies include only those infants who are born from week 25 or later.
The results of these studies do indicate that the decrease is likely the result of improved prenatal care. One of the suspected causes of cerebral palsy is an infection that the mother has during pregnancy. As part of the improved prenatal care programs, mothers are given antibiotics when they have infections. Mothers who are at risk of going into preterm labor are prescribed corticosteroids, which speed up fetal lung development, the NYC Birth Injury Lawyer claimed. Further, since the corticosteroids have been prescribed, there have been fewer instances of babies being born and requiring to be placed on ventilators soon after delivery.
Cerebral palsy can be an especially devastating medical condition that has long been suspected as being acquired at some point before or during pregnancy, or soon after delivery. There have been many cases documented in Queens and Staten Island where the infant was deprived of oxygen during labor and delivery and was brain damaged which caused cerebral palsy. While some reported cases are mild, others are crippling, and in some worst case situations may leave the person with quadriplegic cerebral palsy, which will require a lifetime of being cared by a caregiver.
Nothing is more devastating to parents than to learn their newborn child has suffered an injury, disability, or death. The news is even more heartbreaking when parents discover the injury was preventable. New York Birth Injury Attorney has held many negligent medical staff and hospitals accountable and we are here to help you recover your life.