Patient's question:
Hello, my son is three days old. He was born via cesarean section weighing 7.5 jin, and all his physical indicators are normal. On the day of his birth, in the afternoon, we noticed a small hematoma on the right side of his head. The doctor said to wait and see for two days, and it did not get bigger. A CT scan revealed mild hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Do I need to treat it? Thank you.Doctor's answer:
I've never heard of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) being diagnosed solely based on a single CT scan. Can doctors skip clinical symptoms? At least there should be signs like irritability or seizures before considering this. You can ask your attending physician if the child has any clinical symptoms.Secondly, the child was doing well at birth and was full-term. The medical history shows low HIE risk factors. So, I think the diagnosis should be questioned. The low-density lesions on the CT scan—MRI seems to provide a clearer view. It should be used as a follow-up procedure in the future to monitor for ventricular enlargement or white matter softening.