title: Inclusion of extremes of prematurity in ventricular index centile charts.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the relationship between ventricular index (VI) measurements and postmenstrual age in preterm infants and to generate centile charts and normal ranges for frontal horn ratio (FHR) for a large contemporary cohort of preterm infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective cohort study of 253 infants with birth gestation less than 32 weeks admitted between January 2009 and December 2011 to a tertiary NICU in Ireland.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 816 cranial ultrasounds were reviewed. Data collected were grouped according to postmenstrual age at the time of scan from 23 weeks to 45 weeks. Median values for VI show a general trend to increase with gestation. FHR did not significantly change with postmenstrual age at scan with a median value of 0.31.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a slight increase in VI as gestation at the time of scans increases. These results provide the basis for updated centile charts which we propose for current practice.
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Paediatrics, Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland [2] Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.affiliation: Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shim
authors.affiliation: Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gnanasekaran
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Radiology, Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland [2] Children's University Hospital, Temple St, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tarrant
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Radiology, Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland [2] Children's University Hospital, Temple St, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Paediatrics, Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland [2] Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland [3] Children's University Hospital, Temple St, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Foran
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Paediatrics, Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland [2] Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland [3] Children's University Hospital, Temple St, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: McCallion
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D057238:Growth Charts; D006801:Humans; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies