Heart failure with brain damage in the newborn.

Sudden brain injury in adults can cause pulmonary cedema which may be due to heart failure. In the newborn, heart failure can occur with cerebral damage and lead to diagnostic difficulties, as the cardiac signs are identical with those of congenital heart disease. It is important to be aware that an anatomically normal heart can fail from this cause in the neonatal period, so that correct treatment and parent counselling can be undertaken. Any newborn infant who develops heart failure should have a careful evaluation of his central nervous system. We report three cases in which cardiac failure occurred with cerebral birth injury in babies whose hearts were anatomically normal.