[Cerebral damage following breech presentation]

445 single babies were born from breech presentation at the Obstetric Department of the Medical Faculty in Plzen in the years 1962 to 1966. The perinatal mortality was 71,9%. Intracranial bleeding was the most frequent cause of death. All survived children were examined by the pediatric neurologist and psychologist at the age of 9 to 13 years. 4,24% have suffered from cerebral palsy, 3,0% from epilepsy and 22,8% from minimal brain damage. Having analysed the methods of conducting the deliveries we found out that the best prognosis for survival as well as for psychomotoric development in breech presentation have the babies delivered by elective Caesarean section.