Diagnosis and intervention of disability-causing neonatological risk factors
Martínez-Bermejo, A.
Revista de Neurologia 36(Suppl 1): S117-S122
2003
ISSN/ISBN: 0210-0010 PMID: 12599111 Document Number: 565460
Early care attempts to offer children with, or at risk of suffering from, development disorders a series of optimising compensatory actions that help them to mature properly in all spheres, thus allowing them to reach a maximum level of personal development and social integration. In this study we review the main instruments used for the diagnosis and prevention of neurological disabilities during the pre-and post-natal period. In this field, neuropaediatrics intervenes in a joint, coordinated fashion with neonatology in the detection, diagnosis and therapeutic care of the new-born. The progress made in diagnostic techniques allows the early detection of anomalies that are associated with disability. Neuroimaging (transfontanellar echography, computerised tomography (CAT), magnetic resonance imaging, brain SPECT), genetic and molecular genetics studies, metabolic neonatal and infection screening, neurophysiological techniques and so on will enable earlier and more sensitive diagnoses to be made. In addition, throughout the neonatal period the obstetrician has the enormous responsibility of diagnosing many processes that can be subsidiary to a future disability. We believe that close collaboration between the obstetrician, neonatologist and neuropaediatrician will enable the detection and prevention of risk factors that can lead to a neurological disability. It is also the neuropaediatrician's duty to take part in programmes to monitor the development of children with a biopsychosocial risk, as well as participating in the detection of warning signs and in the diagnosis of neurological disorders.