Birth Injury Glossary

- Cerebral palsy (CP) is a condition often associated with HIE: common symptoms include spasticity and muscle tightness. Baclofen (Lioresal) is a drug that is used to reduce both of these problems.

- The amount of strong acid that must be added to each liter of fully oxygenated blood, in order to return the pH level to 7.40. Too much base case indicate alkalosis. Balanced blood levels should have roughly equal levels of acid and base.

- Deeply-placed masses of gray matter within each cerebral hemisphere. The basal ganglia are associated with a variety of functions, including voluntary motor control and eye movements.

- In medicine, a known quantity or value, used to measure against an unknown.

- Bilirubin encephalopathy is a rare neurological condition that occurs in some newborns with severe jaundice. Kernicterus is a condition where very high bilirubin levels in the blood are deposited in the brain tissue causing irreversible brain damage.

- A test that measures the health of a fetus in the final trimester of pregnancy. The biophysical profile (BPP) measures five components of fetal health, including: heart rate, muscle tone, movement, breathing, and the amount of amniotic fluid surrounding the baby.

- The channel through which the fetus is expelled during birth. The birth canal leads from the uterus through the cervix, vagina and vulva.

- A birth injury is defined as any type of injury or trauma that a baby suffers before, during or immediately after childbirth. According to the National Vital Statistics Report definition, a birth injury is "an impairment of the (newborn baby’s) body function or structure due to an adverse event that occurred at birth."

- The physical (or possibly emotional) shock that an infant experiences while being born.

- An abnormally slow heart rate; usually less than 50 beats per minute.

- A condition in which a baby enters the birth canal with buttocks or feet first.