Prenatal cocaine exposure cuts blood flow to brain
Newborn babies are shown in this undated file image. Babies born to mothers who used cocaine while pregnant show a reduction in blood flow to the brain when they reach adolescence, according to a report in the journal Pediatrics. (SimonThong/Reuters)NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Babies born to mothers who usedcocaine while pregnant show a reduction in blood flow to thebrain when they reach adolescence, according to a report in thejournal Pediatrics.
"What this means is not certain at this time," Dr. HallamHurt from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniatold Reuters Health. "These changes may have been present sincebirth, suggesting a long-lasting effect of (exposure duringpregnancy), or they may have just occurred during adolescence,a so-called latent effect."
Hurt and associates used a special type of MRI to measurebrain blood flow in adolescents who had been exposed to cocaineprenatally and those who had not.
The exposed teens showed decreased blood flow in variousbrain regions, with marked decreases in two key regions: theoccipital lobe, an area that controls vision, and the thalamus,an area that acts as a sensory relay station for the brain.
SOURCE: Pediatrics, November 2007.
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