Cranial Ultrasonography and Doppler in Preterm and Term Neonates

Abstract

Aims And Objective: Role of cranial ultrasonography to evaluate intracranial abnormalities in preterm and term neonates.  To ascertain the clinical course of intracranial haemorrhage and to determine the short- term outcome of the affected baby neonates who develop intracranial complications of prematurity.  The utility of real-time ultrasonography in the diagnosis of neonatal periventricular leukomalacia. To asses utility of cranial colour Doppler in preterm and term neonates.  To evaluate cerebral blood flow velocities in ACA, MCA and PCA in preterm and term neonates.  To evaluate developmental interval changes in cerebral postnatal hemodynamic variation in the blood flow velocities in the preterm and term neonates. Method: Grey scale imaging for intracranial abnormalities and colour Doppler evaluation of intracranial arteries were done on neonates between 3 to 5 days, 10 to 14 days and 26 to 30 days after birth. RESULT: The study was conducted in the department of radiodiagnosis in Adichunchangiri Institute Of Medical Sciences. Prospective radiological clinical study with 52 neonates was undertaken to study the Cranial ultrasonography and Doppler in Preterm ( 37 weeks).On cranial USG , 15 (28.8%) neonates revealed no abnormality, 12(23.1%) showed PVHE , 11(21.2%)neonates showed ICH, 6(11.5%) neonates showed PVL, 4(7.7%) neonates showed Cysts , 4(7.7%) neonates had cerebral edema. On cranial Doppler evaluation of ACA, MCA and PCA progressive rise in systolic and diastolic velocities were seen with increasing gestational age and increasing age of the neonate. The rate of increase in velocity was greater with increasing gestational age. The resistive index decreased progressively with gestational age and with increasing age of the neonate. Conclusion: Neonatal cranial ultrasonography is the easiest and most ideal investigation for diagnosing intracranial pathologies in preterm and term neonates. Neonatal cranial Doppler provides a reliable means to evaluate changes in the intracerebral blood flow with a variety of intracranial pathologies.