Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about birth injuries. And if you want to follow along with written notes on this topic,

you can follow along at zero tofinals.com slash birth injuries or in the neonatology section of

the Zero Definals Pediatrics book. So let's get straight

into it. Being born is quite a traumatic experience. It becomes even more traumatic if there are

complications such as shoulder dystosia, failure to progress or an instrumental delivery.

There are some key injuries that we're going to go through that can occur

during birth. Firstly, let's start with caput sacerdanium. Caput sacerdanium, or caput, involves fluid

or edema collecting in the scalp outside the periosteum. Caput is caused by pressure to a specific area of the scalp

during a traumatic, prolonged or instrumental delivery.

The periosteum is a layer of dense connective tissue

that lines the outside of the skull

and does not cross the sutures,

which are the gaps between the baby's skull bones.

The fluid is outside the periosteum,

which means that it's able to cross the suture lines

and it can go across the sutures.

This is important because it helps you distinguish it

from a cephalo hematoma.

Usually there's no or only mild discoloration of the skin

and it does not require any treatment

and it will usually resolve within a few days.

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