Structural features of extremely and very preterm newborns’ brains according to cranial ultrasound

• Yuliya K. Bykova
• Lyubov’ V. Ushakova
• Elena A. Filippova
• Anna B. Sugak
• Konstantin V. Vatolin
• Victor V. Zubkov
• Iwan A. Suvorov
• Dzhenneta Yu. Suvorova
• Dmitry N. Degtyarev

Abstract

The brain of a preterm infant is structurally and functionally different from the brain of full-term babies. Knowledge about these structural features of the brain of very preterm infants is important for a specialist in ultrasound diagnostics and a neonatologist. It is significant to have the right evaluation of ultrasound results because according to full-term infants, criteria can lead to the wrong conclusions.

The purpose of the study: analysis of anatomical and ultrasound features of the brain of extremely premature infants based on their observations and the data from the literature. The observations were analyzed for the retrospective analysis of brain ultrasound of 223 premature infants.

Results. It was found that neurosonography in extremely premature infants often reveals median subcallous cavities, enlarged cerebrospinal spaces, weak development of furrows and convolutions, and structural features of the white and gray matter of the hemispheres. The peculiarities of the ultrasound picture of the brain of premature infants, relying on immaturity, were abundantly expressed in the group of the lower gestational age.

Keywords:cranial ultrasound; brain; extremely and very preterm newborns

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