Background: Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) is an injury to the brain, happening in the neonatal period (under 28 days old) in which there is deprivation of oxygen supply to the brain. It is a common cause of neonatal death and developmental psychomotor illnesses in the pediatric population worldwide and is one of the major causes of cerebral palsy."Aim: To compare between TCUS, MRI and CT brain in cases with HIE as regards diagnostic accuracy and which correlates more closely to the clinical picture.Methods: This cross-sectional observational study included 48 neonates with clinical signs of HIE admitted to the NICU at Assiut University Children’s Hospital.Results: Neuroimaging demonstrated high abnormality detection rates across all modalities. MRI detected abnormalities in (91.7%), CT in (85.4%), and TCUS in (64.6%) of neonates. MRI and CT were both significantly superior to TCUS (p = 0.004 and p = 0.013, correspondingly), with no significant variance between MRI and CT (p = 1.000). In Grade I HIE, MRI detected lesions in (87.0%), CT in (78.3%), and TCUS in (47.8%). In Grade II/III HIE, all modalities detected abnormalities, but MRI provided the clearest visualization of watershed and deep gray matter injury.Conclusion: MRI is the most accurate diagnostic tool for neonatal HIE, detecting early subtle lesions, while TCUS is useful for bedside screening and CT serves as a second-line option in emergencies; choice depends on timing, clinical context, and availability.
Elatty et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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