Lateral ventricular size in extremely premature infants: 3D MRI confirms 2D ultrasound measurements

Ventriculomegaly at term age is an important predictor of neurologic outcome in preterm infants. Previous studies have found only poor correlations between two-dimensional (2D) cranial ultrasound (US) measurements of lateral ventricles and volume measurements using three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Paired cranial MRI and US scans in a population based cohort of 28 extremely preterm infants were obtained at term equivalent age. A 3D MRI volume and five different 2D ultrasound measurements were assessed for each lateral ventricle. Correlations and interobserver variability were calculated. Reliability of US measurements and correlations between MRI volumes and US measurements of the frontal horns and ventricular midbody were consistently good. The highest correlation was achieved by combining the coronal frontal horn measurements to a frontal horn product (r(2) = right 0.94, left 0.95). Our study underlines the value of cranial ultrasound measurements in neonatal care and follow-up.