[Birth injuries and lesions of the spinal cord in the perinatal period]

The paper presents a clinical and pathological analysis of 40 deliveries, autopsy findings in fetuses and newborns with combined birth injury of the brain and spinal cord, perinatal disease entities associated with intrapartum spinal lesions and disease entities which entail secondary spinal lesions. A subgroup of newborns with intraventricular hemorrhage showed at autopsy diffuse subarachnoidal hemorrhage of the cervical and thoracic spinal segments as a function of its extension into the cerebrospinal fluid system. Guidelines for pathological diagnosis in the pediatric practice are offered.