Simple simulated human head for checking echoencephalographic equipment.

We report the outcome of 12 very low birth weight infants with macrocrania caused by subarachnoid fluid collections. By the age of 15 to 18 months, head growth had stabilized along a curve above and parallel to the 95th percentile. No infant required neurosurgical intervention, nor was cerebral palsy or mental retardation diagnosed in any of the infants.

Echoencephalography↗

PubMed1996

[Diagnosis and prognosis of periventricular leukomalacia].

Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) is an important pathogenetic factor in cerebral palsy in premature infants. We studied 708 premature infants with gestational ages < 36 weeks, who had been admitted to the NICU of Matsudo City Hospital, examined by cranial ultrasonographic method repeatedly, and followed up for more than 1 year with cranial ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and CT scanning. We made a diagnostic protocol for PVL. All cystic lesions and periventricular echo densities (PVE) 3, and 14.9% of PVE 2 on ultrasonography were clinically diagnosed in PVL. Cranial MRI were consistent with clinical symptoms, and its complicated findings corresponded to the severity of PVL. This protocol was useful for the diagnosis of clinical PVL.

Echoencephalography↗

PubMed1993

[Periventricular leukomalacia of late onset in a premature infant].

BACKGROUND: Periventricular leukomalacia in preterm neonates is usually due to abnormal cerebral blood flow before and/or during delivery. It is diagnosed during the first month of life. This study describes a case of late-developing periventricular leukomalacia. CASE REPORT: A girl was delivered by cesarean section at the 23rd week of gestation that was complicated by placenta previa. She weighted 880 g and immediately required resuscitation. She did not develop respiratory distress syndrome. She was intubated and ventilated for the first two weeks of life and developed bronchopulmonary dysplasia requiring corticosteroid treatment. Extubation was possible on day 43. The neonate had been given antibiotics for the first 10 days of life and indomethacin on day 8 because of a patent ductus arteriosus. Repeated craniosonography showed moderate bilateral intraventricular hemorrhage and occipital areas of hyperechogenicity that disappeared at the end of the first month of life. Repeated electroencephalograms revealed no positive rolandic sharp waves until the infant was 42 days old. Craniosonography on day 48 showed areas of heterogeneous hyperechogenicity and NMR imaging showed bilateral frontoparietal leukomalacia with loss of white matter. The baby died on day 71. CONCLUSIONS: Late periventricular leukomalacia is exceptional and usually seen after postnatal abnormalities in cerebral blood flow and/or prolonged hypoxemia. Both these risk factors were absent in this patient.

Echoencephalography↗