Ultrasound studies in preterm infants with hydrocephalus

Serial ultrasound studies of cerebral ventricular size were obtained in 40 small preterm infants, 26 of whom were believed to be at risk for intracranial hemorrhage or hydrocephalus secondary to ICH or both. Hydrocephalus was diagnosed by ultrasound study in 12 of the high-risk infants, eight of whom required a surgical shunt procedure because of progressive ventricular enlargement. Serial ultrasound studies in the other 28 infants, including the 14 believed to be at low risk for ICH, disclosed normal ventricular size, defined as a ratio of lateral ventricular width to intracranial hemidiameter of less than 35%. The ultrasound methods utilized a portable A-mode echoscope that permitted unidimensional intracranial measurements at the infants' bedside, and a nonportable automated B-scanner that produced two-dimensional gray-scale images of the brain. The serial ultrasound measurements and images proved clinically useful in the initial detection of hydrocephalus and subsequent evaluation of the infant subjects.