Abstract P581: Neonatal Stroke is Not Associated With Birth Trauma

Abstract

Acute neonatal stroke causes cerebral palsy, lifelong morbidity and mortality. Neonatal arterial ischemic stroke (NAIS) and hemorrhagic stroke (NHS) are most common. Pathophysiology is poorly understood and causation is often attributed to observed obstetrical factors such as instrumentation (forceps or vacuum) or operative delivery despite no empiric evidence supporting an association. We explored the relationship between birth trauma and neonatal stroke via population-based, prospectively collected registries in Southern Alberta, Canada. Consecutive cases of NAIS (n=59), NHS (n=20), and neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy HIE with MRI-confirmed injury (HIE+, n=78)) were compared to neonates without injury (HIE-n=77). Cranial soft tissue swelling was objectively quantified as a trauma score from T1-weighted images using a semi-automatic segmentation method performed by two blinded investigators. Maternal, obstetrical, perinatal, and outcome variables were obtained from medical records. Multinomial regression modeling evaluated the relationship between diagnosis and birth trauma as measured by total soft tissue swelling score and diagnosis (HIE- as controls). Across the 234 infants studied, mean age at MRI (4.1+/-1.3 days) and sex (54% male) were comparable. Measurable scalp trauma was present in 93(40%), the proportion of which did not differ across groups. On univariate analysis, mean trauma scores did not differ between groups, were not associated with NHS or HIE+, and were lower for the NAIS group compared to HIE- (controls). Multinomial modeling revealed no relationship between scalp trauma and outcome. We conclude that the leading forms of acquired neonatal brain injury are not associated with objectively measured birth trauma. The term “birth trauma” should be removed from the perinatal stroke vernacular to help counsel traumatized parents and advance studies of genuine pathophysiology.