Neuropediatrics 2002; 33(6): 281-287
DOI: 10.1055/s-2002-37089
Review Article

Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Adult Stroke and Perinatal Brain Damage: Like Grandparent, Like Grandchild?

A. Leviton 1 , O. Dammann 1 , 2 , T. M. O'Shea 3 , N. Paneth 4
  • 1Neuroepidemiology Unit, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
  • 2Department of Obstetrics, Prenatal Medicine and General Gynecology, Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Pulmonology, and Neonatology, Perinatal Infectiology Unit, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
  • 3Department of Pediatrics, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
  • 4Department of Epidemiology, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
Further Information

Publication History

Received: 8 August 2002

Accepted after Revision: 14 November 2002

Publication Date:
06 February 2003 (online)

Preview

Abstract

Biomarkers of inflammation are found in the circulation of adults who have had a stroke. Although these biomarkers may, in part, be indicators of damage, some appear to contribute to damage. Similar biomarkers are found in newborns with cerebral white matter damage or at risk of cerebral palsy. Can we learn about the pathogenesis of neonatal white matter damage from what has been learned about the inflammatory correlates of adult stroke? We discuss relevant findings about systemic inflammatory markers in adult stroke and relate this information to our current understanding of cerebral white matter damage in newborns, especially those born at an extremely low gestational age. We also describe desirable characteristics of future studies of perinatal brain damage that involve measurements of systemic biomarkers.

References

M. D. Olaf Dammann

Department of Obstetrics, Prenatal Medicine and General Gynecology · Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Pulmonology, and Neonatology, Perinatal Infectiology Unit, OE 6415 · Hannover Medical School

Carl-Neuberg Str. 1

30623 Hannover

Germany

Email: dammann.olaf@mh-hannover.de