Neurosonographic Screening of Pre-Term Babies
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Abstract
Premature birth, low oxygen levels, birth trauma, and other causes of brain damage in newborns continue to be major causes of death and disability despite advances in neonatal intensive care. Preterm infants at risk for brain damage and subsequent neurodevelopmenal problems are often identified via cranial USG. These defects most often result from severe intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) or cystic periventricular leukomalacia (PVL). The most prevalent kind of brain damage, cerebroventricular haemorrhage, begins in a region called the germinal matrix, which is found in the groove between both the head of the caudate nucleus as well as the thalamus. It has a lot of blood vessels but not much more to hold it together. During fetal brain development, it serves as a source of neuroblasts that go to the periphery. Around 24–32 weeks of gestation, the germinal matrix is at its greatest, and subsequently it involutes, making it considerably smaller in full-term newborns than preterm infants. Forty percent of premature infants weighing less than 1500 grams have intraventricular hemorrhage, 90% of which occur in the first three postnatal days as well as the remaining 10% by the tenth day. Clinically, grades 3–6 intraventricular hemorrhage are often undetectable without a screening USG.
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References
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