Hello, I Have A Question About Brain Hypoxia And The

Posted on Sun, 9 Dec 2018

Question: Hello, I have a question about brain hypoxia and the chance of brain damage occurring. My daughter had a suffocation accident at 5 weeks old where when we found her she was blue but in respiratory arrest and her heart was still beating. My husband smacked her on the back and she started breathing again and she was taken to hospital and observed over night but she was totally fine and back to herself.

Now that she’s 15 Months I worry that she may still start to show brain damage at some point from it and I over analyze everything she is doing as I worry. Just wondering what you would think the likelihood of damage is after an event like that? My husband thinks that because her heart didn’t stop actually beating that there was probably some oxygen, although maybe little, flowing around her system so he tells me to stop worrying. She also to date has met all her milestones with sitting, crawling, walking, speech. Would she benefit from having an mri on her little brain to see, would that show anything?

Anyways, after all that said my question is... when I took CPR I learnt that you have 3-5 minutes to revive someone before yes, brain damage is likely. Does that 3-5 minutes start after the heart stops? Or even after they stop breathing?

Follow up: Dr. Ajay Panwar (27 minutes later)

I also want to add that she did happen to have an EEG don’t about 3 weeks after the accident for an unrelated issue. But that’s not a good test in regards to brain damage is it? Or could it have possibly shown something?

Answered by Dr. Ajay Panwar (24 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
As milestones are normal, probably no major brain injury occurred

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for being on healthcaremagic.com
I’m Dr.Ajay Panwar, a neurologist, here to answer your query,

I shall try to resolve your doubts pointwise-
1) There is no such criteria to quantify the likelihood of damage in these kind of events but as her milestones till date are normal, there are less chances of a significant brain injury.
2)MRI will show the damage if it has occurred but there is no absolute reason to get MRI as there are no symptoms.
3)CPR is for revival of those whose heart stops. By definition, it aims to revive cardiac arrest patients. It is not defined by ‘ stoppage of breathing’. Hope that makes it clear.
4)MRI of brain shows the hypoxic changes. EEG may show some brain wave abnormalities but will not show the site and extent of injury as MRI does in such cases.

Hope that helps. If you have any further queries, I shall be glad to answer them.

Regards,
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T

Follow up: Dr. Ajay Panwar (1 hour later)

Hi there,

Thank you for your reply! So from the description of the event and the fact that she’s met her milestones is a good sign you think that she has none, or maybe only very minor brain damage? She honestly is a very smart little 15 month old. Many people do comment on how smart she is. But then every now and then does something weird that makes me paranoid about her. For instance, she’s been walking for 3 months and is still very stumbly and falls down ALOT. Some people tell me that’s normal cause she’s only 15 months. But because I’m worried I wonder if it’s damage in her brain with motor skills.

Answered by Dr. Ajay Panwar (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Wait and watch

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for being in follow-up.

Occasional falls during walk are obviously normal for such little children. Don’t think too much about it. You just wait and watch her grow well with her stepwise milestones. I hope she will do all well.

Hope that helps. If you have any further queries, I shall be glad to answer them.

Regards,
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T