On the Neuropathological Changes in the Central Nervous System Following Neonatal Asphyxia: with Special Reference to the Auditory System in Man

Abstract

The role of asphyxia in the ethiology of neurological defects in the newborn is steadily becoming clearer. It is now considered a well established fact that asphyxia is responsible for a number of neurological and physiological disorders in childhood, and its neuroanatomical consequences are well known. The increasing knowledge of the somatotopical—and in the auditory system also the tonotopical—organization of the brain has added materially to the understanding of the effects of asphyxia. In different brain structures degenerative changes have been demonstrated. The present investigation shows, that in the cochlear nuclei a selective vulnerability to asphyxia can be demonstrated qualitatively as well as quantitatively.