Neonatal Pain Suffering, Pain and Risk of Brain Damage in the Fetus and Newborn /

• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Other Authors: Buonocore, Giuseppe (Editor), Bellieni, Carlo V. (Editor)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Milano : Springer Milan, 2008.
• Subjects: Medicine.; Gynecology.; Obstetrics.; Neurology.; Pain medicine.; Pediatrics.; Medical ethics.; Medicine & Public Health.; Pain Medicine.; Obstetrics/Perinatology.; Theory of Medicine/Bioethics.

 Until the 1980s it was denied that fetuses and neonates feel pain. With the advent of a deeper understanding of the pathophysiology and new diagnostic tools, the last 30 years have seen great developments in this field, but the treatment of neonatal and fetal pain is still a controversial issue and a central topic, not only in specialties directly concerned with it, but also in bioethics. Some important issues are still under investigation. When does pain perception appear? Is it ethical to cure fetal pain? Does fetal pain have consequences for the developing brain? Can a fetus suffer? This volume aims to give an overview of current knowledge in the field. An international team of specialists has been assembled to evaluate neonatal and fetal pain from various points of view – neurological, pediatric, gynecological, anesthesiological – and with regard to possible consequences of pain (including psychological) for the brain. This book will be an invaluable resource for neonatologists, pediatricians, anesthesiologists, gynecologists, and other professionals involved in this field, and for postgraduate students in all disciplines. 

 Introduction: Pain and Suffering from the Womb Onwards? -- Introduction: Pain and Suffering from the Womb Onwards? -- Delivery and Pain -- Gonadal Hormones and Pain Modulation -- Stress and Pregnancy: CRF as Biochemical Marker -- Pain Control During Labour -- Fetal Pain -- Ultrasound and Fetal Stress: Study of the Fetal Blink-Startle Reflex Evoked by Acoustic Stimuli -- Prenatal Affective Exchanges and Their Subsequent Effects in Postnatal Life -- Pain in the Fetus -- New Insights into Prenatal Stress: Immediate and Long-Term Effects on the Fetus and Their Timing -- Neonatal Pain -- Pain Assessment and Spectral Analysis of Neonatal Crying -- Analgesic Procedures in Newborns -- Nonpharmacological Treatment of Neonatal Pain -- Sensory Saturation: An Analgesic Method -- Pharmacologic Analgesia in the Newborn -- Physical Stress Risk Agents in Incubators -- Pain: a Risk Factor for Brain Damage -- Neonatal Stressors -- New Insights into Neonatal Hypersensitivity -- From the Gate-Control Theory to Brain Programs for Neonatal Pain -- Pain and Communication -- Disclosure of Pathology to the Newborn’s Family -- Communication of Diagnosis: Pain and Grief in the Experience of Parents of Children with a Congenital Malformation -- Invest in Prenatal Life: a High-Yield Stock.