Intracerebellar hemorrhage in premature infants: sonographic detection and outcome

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

AIMS: Intracerebellar hemorrhage is a rarely confirmed diagnosis in preterm infants in comparison to peri-/intraventricular hemorrhage. This study evaluates the incidence of intracerebellar hemorrhage and neurological outcome in preterm infants. METHODS: 260 infants with gestational age of 22-32 weeks were studied prospectively by cranial ultrasound. Neurodevelopmental outcome was examined in the first three years of life. RESULTS: 15 infants had intracranial hemorrhage grade II-IV (10 intraventricular, 6 intracerebellar hemorrhage). Neurodevelopmental follow-up showed that one infant with intracerebellar hemorrhage is severely handicapped, two have moderate and two mild impairments and one has no sequelae. CONCLUSION: Cerebellar hemorrhage is not rare if ultrasound examination is specifically focused on cerebellar lesions.