Intensive Care Survivors Research Articles

Follow-up of preschool age survivors of neonatal intensive care.

High risk birth status is related to a number of subsequent deficits in development. Factors such as maternal education and economic status of the family are hypothesized to affect the development of high risk children. In this study preschool aged survivors (n = 18) of a neonatal intensive care nursery were compared to a randomly selected control sample (n = 18) on measures of intelligence, receptive language, and visual motor integration. No significant effects were found for birth status alone. A significant interaction between level of maternal education and birth status was found on the measure of intelligence.

Evaluation of Neonatal Intracranial Hemorrhage by Computerized Tomography

Computerized tomographic (CT) brain scan was performed on 28 infants with unexplained cardiorespiratory and neurologic deterioration and bloody lumbar cerebrospinal spinal fluid. Fourteen of 20 with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) died; the six infants with lesser degrees of IVH survived. Significant subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) was demonstrable in three infants and three had negative scans despite bloody CSF. We have found that CT scans provide useful information about the size and extent of neonatal IVH and distinguished it from SAH. It also confirms the diagnosis of post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus in these infants. Continued use of the CT scan will help us to understand the natural history and the effects of neonatal intracranial hemorrhage among the survivors of intensive care.