title: Ultrasound-clinical correlations in the assessment of the newborn at risk for brain damage.
abstract: In the Pavia Neonatal Intensive Care Unit all newborns at risk for brain damage have, since 1983, undergone transfontanellar ultrasound scanning regularly for the early diagnosis of hemorrhage and/or anoxia-ischemia. They have also been assessed clinically by a child neuropsychiatrist during the hospital stay and every two months at outpatients' for the first year of life as a check on the prognostic value of ultrasound scanning. The results relating to a sample of 56 at risk newborns, with normal and abnormal ultrasound scans, who have now reached 12 months corrected age are reported. A normal ultrasound scan presupposes normal neuropsychic development in 87% of cases, as happens in the event of uncomplicated hemorrhage. Major sequelae occur in as many as 83% of cases of complicated hemorrhage. The diagnosis of severe anoxia-ischemia likewise argues for a pathological neuropsychic development. Our results convince us that transfontanellar ultrasound scanning is an indispensable tool not only for the early diagnosis of brain damage but also as a guide to prognosis in the newborn at risk.
mesh_terms: D001284:Atrophy; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles; D006801:Humans; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000175:diagnosis; D002534:Hypoxia, Brain / Q000175:diagnosis; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011379:Prognosis; D012306:Risk; D014463:Ultrasonography