Abstract

Hypoxia in newborn infants is becoming much easier to prevent, detect and treat. Nevertheless the successful management of potentially hypoxic fetuses and newborn infants remains the major challenge to all physicians concerned with perinatal care. What is at stake is not only that sick infants should survive, but equally or more importantly that the survivors should be normal children. Recent follow-up studies show that this aim can, with few exceptions, now be achieved (Stewart and Reynolds, 1974; Davies and Stewart, 1975; Durbin et al, 1976).