[Morphologic changes in the brain after sustaining asphyxia during labor (pathogenesis of mental retardation)]

An analysis was accomplished of pathomorphological changes in the brains of 10 newborns, who died of intranatal asphyxia and of 1 adult brain with mental retardation, due to asphyxia during delivery. The dynamics of hypoxic changes of an irreversible character in the brain of the newborn and the existence of chronic hypoxic encephalopathy with pronounced cellular devastation in the late period of asphyxia indicate common genesis of the pathological process in the brain, conditioning its progression. The role of intranatal asphyxia in the pathogenesis of changes in postnatal development of neuropsychic activity is discussed.