[Minimal cerebral hemorrhage in premature infants]

Under the term minimal cerebral haemorrhage we understand subependymal haemorrhages which occur as a consequence of ruptures in the capillaries in the stratum germinativum. They occur exclusively in newborn babies after the 36th week of pregnancy. In premature babies born up to or after 32 weeks we found these haemorrhages to a degree of 45% in cases where there was also more haemorrhage. We did not discover any neurological abnormalities in the development after birth as a result of isolated subependymal haemorrhage. This makes the question of how and in how much detail the parents should be informed about the findings more acute. On questioning the relatives it was found that they had undergone some uncertainty and psychological strain after being informed about the findings.