Injury may also occur due to O2 accumulation via the production of O2 by microglia, a type of glial cell that are responsible for immune response in the CNS, but their role in injury after neonatal stroke is still relatively unknown. As observed by Alberi, et al., progressive atrophy in the ipsilateral hemisphere over three weeks after the stroke occurred, suggesting that a neonatal stroke has long-lasting effects on neuronal viability and the potential for a prolonged therapeutic window for alleviating the progression of cell death. Diagnosis
Neonatal strokes occur in approximately 1 in 4000 births, but this number is likely much higher due to lack of noticeable symptoms at time of birth. They generally present with seizures, but only half to three quarters of cases have identifiable causes. Diagnosis often occurs around 36 hours after onset of neonatal stroke due to the interval between stroke and clinical presentation, if any occurs at all. Neonatal strokes can be confirmed with neuroimaging or neuropathalogical studies, and other various imaging techniques can be used to diagnose neonatal strokes, such as ultrasound, Doppler sonography, computerized tomography (CT) scan, CT angiography, and multimodal MR.

Prevention
Some evidence suggests that magnesium sulfate administered to mothers prior to early preterm birth reduces the risk of cerebral palsy in surviving neonates.
Research Direction
Well-designed clinical trials for stroke treatment in neonates are lacking  Recent clinical trials show that therapeutic intervention by brain cooling beginning up to 6 hours after perinatal asphyxia reduces cerebral injury and may improve outcome in term infants, indicating cell death is both delayed and preventable Pancaspase inhibition and Casp3-selective inhibition have been found to be neuroprotective in neonatal rodents with models of neonatal brain injury, which may lead to pharmacological intervention  In a study done by Chauvier, et al., it is suggested that a Caspase inhibitor, TRP601, is a candidate for neuroprotective strategy in prenatal brain injury conditions. They found a lack of detectable side effects in newborn rodents and dogs. This may be a useful treatment in combination with hypothermia.MRI has proven valuable for defining brain injury in the neonate, but animal models are still needed to identify causative mechanisms and to develop neuroprotective therapies. In order to model human fetal or neonatal brain injury, one needs a species in which a similar proportion of brain development occurs in utero, the volume of white to grey matter is similar to the human brain, an insult can be delivered at an equivalent stage of development, the physiological outcome of the insult can be monitored, and neurobehavioral parameters can be tested.