Intellectual impairment with regional cerebral dysfunction after low neonatal cerebral blood flow.

12 children, in whom neonatal CBF had been measured, were examined at the age of 9 to 10 years by means of clinical neurological examination, neuropsychologic tests and observations, and 133Xe single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Performance on most neuropsychologic tests or observations correlated with neonatal CBF but only rarely with other neonatal parameters (birthweight, gestational age, Apgar score at 5 min). Poor performance on each test or observation was in most instances correlated with a distinct pattern of regional cerebral dysfunction as assessed by SPECT. The dysfunctional region tended to be located periventricularly and in the watershed regions between major cerebral arteries. It is concluded that low neonatal cerebral perfusion may be an indicator, and possibly a determinant, of later intellectual dysfunction in stressed neonates, and that specific neuropsychologic deficits are associated with specific patterns of cerebral dysfunction in the present patient group.