Author/Editor		Burja, S
Title		Prognostic value of ultrasonic findings of periventricular hyperechogenicity in preterm neonates
Type		članek
Source		Neurol Croat
Vol. and No.		Letnik 42, št. 2
Publication year		1993
Volume		str. 145-59
Language		eng
Abstract		During a four-year period, 70 surviving preterm infants of 32 weeks of gestation or less were prospectively examined by cerebral ultrasonography for the diagnosis and evolution of periventricular hyperechogenicity. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical significance of periventricular hyperechogenicity by correlating ultrasound findings and neurodevelopmental outcome of children examined by the age of 1-4 years. During the neonatal period, 12 (17%) cases of extensive periventricular asymmetrical and symmetrical hyperechogenicity were recorded. By subsequent examination, ultrasound appearance of cavitation, mostly in the parieto-occipital region, developed in nine out of 12 children with periventricular hyperechogenicity. By the age of 6 months involution of the cysts occurred with mild or moderate dilatation of lateral ventricles in six out of nine infants with macrocystic transformation of periventricular hyperechogenicity. In the remaining three children, defects of periventricular white matter parenchyma, i.e. porencephalies, persisted. Periventricular hyperechogenicity did not change on subsequent ultrasound examination in three out of 12 children presenting non-cavitating periventricular leukomalacia. Neurodevelopmental outcome in the examined children was related to the localization, type and size of periventricular leukomalacia. The children with lesions of the occipital periventricular white matter and those with bilateral cavitating lesions demonstrated severe neurodevelopmental sequelae (e.g., cerebral palsy, visual disorders). Contrary to this, unilateral, frontal, non-cavitating or smaller cystic periventricular leukomalacia have relatively favorable prognosis. For reliable prognosis and qualitative evaluation of the structural hypoxic-ischemic brain lesion in preterm infants, it is necessary to perform accurate timing of ultrasound examinations.
Descriptors		LEUKOMALACIA, PERIVENTRICULAR INFANT, PREMATURE CEREBRAL PALSY INFANT, NEWBORN CHILD PROGNOSIS GESTATIONAL AGE CEREBRAL ISCHEMIA