Microcephaly
The term micro means small, and ceph - refers to the head. Microcephaly can be an acquired condition at birth. The baby can be developing during the nine months of pregnancy perfectly well, the physicians can look at the ultrasound and see the hands, and the legs and feet and the abdomen and specifically the baby’s brain are all developing proportionally and nicely. However a hypoxic ischemic insult – that is a lack of oxygen or lack of blood flow to the brain during labor and or delivery will cause the brain to take a big insult, and that insult will not allow the brain to grow normally anymore, and it will fall off the growth curve later in life.
This condition of acquired Microcephaly is useful to help time an injury if it occurs during labor and delivery. Kids who have hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy – a lack of oxygen or blood flow to the brain during labor and delivery will almost always be born with a normal head size and then later in life their head or brain will fall off the growth curve and they will have Acquired Microcephaly.
