NEUROSONOGRAPHY IN APPROPRIATE AND SMALL-FOR-GESTATIONAL-AGE LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT INFANTS

The cranial ultrasound of 111 preterm infants were reviewed. 57 patients were appropriate for gestational age (AGA) and 54 small for gestational age (SGA). In the two groups, the incidence of peri-intraventricular hemorrhage (PIVH), posthemorrhagic ventricular dilation (VM) and peri-ventricular leucomalacia (PVL) was compared. PIVH was more common in AGA than in SGA babies (36.8% vs 18.5%). In both groups (AGA and SGA), birth weight less than 1000 g should be considered a further risk factor for hemorrhagic brain lesion (72.2% in AGA babies < 1000 g and 20.5% ind AGA babies > 1000 g birth weight, p < 0.01) (34.8% in SGA babies < 1000 g and 6.4% in SGA babies > 1000 g birth weigth, p < 0.05). However, ischemic brain lesions (PVL) were not dependent from birth weight (p > 0.5). This study shows that low birth weight infants are an eterogeneous group of babies with different risk of hemorrhagic or ischemic cerebral lesion depending on gestational age and birth weight.