Running head: PRETERM BRAIN INJURY 1

Preterm Infant Brain Injury and Development

Erika Hulse

Psychology 2300 Salt Lake Community College

Running head: PRETERM BRAIN INJURY 2

Preterm Infant Brain Injury and Development

Life. What does this word mean to you? Is it your achievements? Is it a dark place for

you? There is no concrete definition for life, other than merely the existence of thyself. Now,

there are things that can happen in life that might skew your definition, therefore making it good

or bad for whatever you may be dealing with at that point in time. Many people take their life for

granted, and complain about having to walk to a certain place, complain about having to think

intellectually, and complain about having to use their brain. To continue, imagine being without

those things you so often complain about. For example, walking, talking, and being able to think

and use your opinion without the assistance of others. What do you think it would be like not

being able to live? Not meaning, have fun and go crazy live, but simply live. To feel that

existence and self-awareness. Preterm infants suffer brain injury, a specific type of brain injury,

at birth and are prone to having these simple things taken away from them. With amazing

medical advances, the world of medicine has made it possible for preterm babies to live a healthy

life after coming to full growth and development. It is amazing that infants are able to survive

some of these injuries. Even though some infants grow to be extremely healthy, there are some

who suffer the worst. These infants suffer from neurodevelopment delays, cognitive deficits, and

motor disability (Volpe, 2009). Just 50 60 years ago premature infants did not make it to birth

because they suffered from many complications. Now, about 63,000 babies are born with low

birth weights each year and end up surviving. Because babies are being born very early in

pregnancy, they are running risks for lack of brain development. There are many things that can

affect the infant, to be specific the infant suffers neurologically, which can lead to many factors

as the infant grows and how they are able to live.

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Neurologically, the brain of a preterm infant suffers immensely from injury

(prematurity). To narrow it down, this type of brain injury can be defined as, Periventricular

leukomalacia (PVL), a distinctive form of cerebral white matter injury (Volpe, 2009, p. 1). The

PVL often times comes with neuronal/axonal disease, which affects cerebral white matter,

thalamus, basal ganglia, cerebral cortex, brain stem, and cerebellum. Cerebral white matter,

house of the axons, is at its highest growth rate during prematurity, which elevates the chances of

PVL. A main part of PVL is axonal degeneration. Cerebral white matter also contains sub plate

neurons. These sub plate neurons are at an increased risk of experiencing hypoxia-ischemia,

which is a narrowing of blood supply that causes a decreased oxygen intake. The prevalence of

the injury to the thalamus is extremely high in relation to the other structures. It has been tested

that 40% of neuron loss and 60% of gliosis occurred in the thalamus. To lay it out there, the

thalamus had been shown to have decreased volume shown by MRI scans (Volpe, 2009). The

phase of growth for the cerebellum also has some potential risks, which include undernutrition,

x-irradiation, and glucocorticoid exposure. When an infants body must worry about actually

working outside of the whom it gets distracted with growth.

As explained in Volpes 2009 article, the rapid growth and required development outside

of the whom creates a myriad of self-mechanisms that are also destructive with brain injury.

Premature infants suffer from this brain injury that they are unable to control. Their brain is

working hard to develop the way it needs to be, but is also running into problems while trying to

function outside of the whom. The development of the brain moves very rapidly, which puts the

injury likelihood even higher. The amazing world of medicine we live in has made it possible to

be able to save these important psychological factors and repair what was lost.
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References

Volpe, J. J. (2009). Brain injury in premature infants: a complex amalgam of destructive and

developmental disturbances. Lancet Neurology, 8(1), 110124.

http://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(08)70294-1