The natural anxiety experienced by all new parents about the well-being and future of their child is increased when the baby is born small or ill, and is further heightened if there is any concern about the function of the brain. As clinicians involved in the care of newborns with neurological problems, and who are often asked to advise parents whose fetus is thought to have a neurological abnormality, we have considerable experience with the situations we describe in this book. Over the years we have sought advice from others, searched the literature, and consulted and read widely in order to solve clinical problems on a daily basis. This book represents a summary of the results of our knowledge and experience, and we have started with the clinical presentation of neonatal neurological disease rather than using a pathological or end-stage neuroimaging classification. We describe our approach to the problem and the way we interpret the results of the investigations we request, and hope others will find this approach useful as they strive to provide the best possible care to their vulnerable patients.

By the time this book is published it will be almost 30 years since the first ultrasound images of the neonatal brain were made at University College London Hospital and published in the Lancet. There have been huge advances since then, and the field has moved on considerably in the decade since the first edition of this book was published, as Neonatal Cerebral Ultrasound written by Janet M. Rennie.