[The evaluation of a newborn in a coma].
Coma is differentiated from sleep by the absence of a normal arousal response and from death by the presence of heart beats and the absence of brain death criteria. Most causes of coma are readily diagnosed and treated. Others require a test whose results are not immediately available, transportation or a risky procedure and empirical treatment has to be considered. In addition to treating the cause of coma, treatment of the systemic and neurological causes of secondary brain damage is paramount.
Alfonso
I
I
Departamento de Neurología, Miami Children's Hospital, FL 33155, USA.
Papazian
O
O
Hernández
E
E
D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications; D003128:Coma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004569:Electroencephalography; D018792:Encephalitis, Viral / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000150:complications; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000150:complications; D018805:Sepsis / Q000150:complications; D012890:Sleep