Neonatal Oculomotor, Optomotor, Vestibulo-ocular, Protective Blink, and Pupillary Light Reflexes Following Perinatal Brain Trauma: Implications for Early Visual Rehabilitation in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Concussion

Perinatal brain trauma, including hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and mechanical injury during pregnancy, labor, or delivery, represents an early-acquired brain injury that disrupts the identical subcortical, brainstem, cerebellar, and emerging cortical visual, oculomotor, and vestibulo-ocular pathways commonly impaired in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or concussion....

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No actionable change to standard audiology practice; the study is relevant primarily to neonatal neurology and early rehabilitation teams who may screen for vestibulo-ocular and oculomotor reflex deficits following perinatal brain trauma.

Establishing early oculomotor and vestibulo-ocular reflex profiles in neonates after perinatal brain injury could open a window for earlier identification and rehabilitation of visual and vestibular dysfunction, with downstream relevance to audiology-vestibular practice.

1. 01Study examined multiple neonatal reflexes (oculomotor, vestibulo-ocular, protective blink, pupillary light) after perinatal brain trauma.
2. 02Findings suggest reflex profiling may flag infants at risk for visual and vestibular developmental problems.
3. 03Authors argue for early visual rehabilitation in cases of mild TBI and concussion in neonates.
4. 04Published in the Journal of Child Neurology; primarily relevant to pediatric neurology and neonatology.
5. 05Peripheral relevance to audiology through the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) assessment component.

PMID

42701326

DOI

10.1177/08830738261480397.

Journal

Journal of Child Neurology

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

4

Population

Neonates who experienced perinatal brain trauma

Intervention

Assessment of oculomotor, optomotor, vestibulo-ocular, protective blink, and pupillary light reflexes