Cerebellar hemorrhage in the premature infant

Lesions of the central nervous system were reviewed in 144 premature neonates without anomalies or infections coming to autopsy from the Intermountain Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Twelve neonates were found to have had cerebellar hemorrhages. Eleven of the 12 with cerebellar hemorrhage also had germinal plate hemorrhages at postmortem examination. Some hemorrhages destroyed one or both cerebellar hemispheres. Three of 19 (16%) infants between 20 to 24 weeks' gestation, six of 26 (25%) infants between 26 to 28 weeks' gestation, two of 24 (8%) infants between 28 to 30 weeks' gestation, and one of 19 (5%) infants between 20 to 32 weeks' gestation had cerebellar hemorrhage. No premature neonate after 32 weeks' gestation had cerebellar hemorrhage. It is probable that trauma does not play a role in the pathogenesis of the cerebellar hemorrhage.