Cerebral Palsy videos

Nucleated Red Blood Cells

 

Nucleated Red Blood Cells

Nucleated red blood cells are precursors to red blood cells.  During labor and delivery when there can be a lack of oxygen and blood flow to a baby’s brain, the body will call up some extra red blood cells to help carry as much oxygen as it can.  These precursor red blood cells are called nucleated red blood cells.  One can measure the timing of an insult during labor and delivery using nucleated red blood cells as a general aid. 

After the baby has been born, if one thinks there has been a hypoxic ischemic encephalopathic insult that occurred during labor and delivery, that is a lack of oxygen and blood flow, check the nucleated red blood cells after birth.  What one usually sees is a rise in nucleated red blood cells because a normal fetus doesn’t have any nucleated red blood cells.  So if there is a small amount of nucleated red blood cells at birth, one can tell that during labor and delivery, there may have been a hypoxic insult that caused the body to say, het red blood cells, we need more of you to help carry the load.  Nucleated red blood cells may continue to rise after birth or they may have a short rise and then disappear.

Either way, the exact mechanism or timing of them relating to when the insult occurred is not so clear.  What is more important is the presence or absence of nucleated red blood cells.  If your baby has suffered from hypoxic ischemic encephalopathic insult during labor and delivery, the presence of nucleated red blood cells after birth will be confirmatory of that.  In addition, many times the placenta, the unit that the baby nourishes through the mom, will have nucleated red blood cells which are visible under a microscope.  And their presence gives us a hint that the baby suffered from a lack of oxygen and blood flow during labor and delivery.    

All are Cerebral Palsy Videos

Cerebral Palsy video chapter 1 - Introduction to Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy video chapter 2 - Causes of Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy video chapter 3 - Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)

Cerebral Palsy video chapter 4 - Timing a Brain Injury

Cerebral Palsy video chapter 5 - Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring

Cerebral Palsy video chapter 6 - Nucleated Red Blood Cells

Cerebral Palsy video chapter 7 - Radiograph

Cerebral Palsy video chapter 8 - Placenta Pathlogy

Cerebral Palsy video chapter 9 - Microcephaly

Cerebral Palsy video chapter 10 - Vaginal birth after C-section (VBAC)

Cerebral Palsy video chapter 11 - Placental Abruption