Amina Iqbal, Nawaz Anjum, Ghulam Rasul, Amir Gillani, Musarat Jabbar.
Sonographic Evaluation of Intracranial Hemorrhage in Premature and Low-Birth Weight Infants at the Time of Admission and Discharge at the Children`s Hospital and Institute of Child Health, Lahore, Pakistan.
Pak Paed J Jan ;42(2):125-9.

Objective: To grade intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) in premature and low-birth weight (LBW) infants by transcranial ultrasound at time of admission and discharge. Patient and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Radiology, The Children`s Hospital and Institute of Child Health, Lahore, Pakistan from July 2017 to January 2018. Cranial ultrasound was done on new-born infants suspected of ICH and 175 positive cases were recorded and reassessed by repeat scan at time of discharge. Based on gestational age the cases were divided into 2 groups - Group I - Extremely preterm(EPT) and Very preterm(VPT) infants - gestational age less than 32 weeks - and Group II - Moderate preterm(MPT) and late preterm(LPT) infants - gestational age between 32 -36 weeks. The cases were further classified into two groups according to birth weight as specified by WHO criteria of low-birth weight infants. The group I was very low birth weight (VLBW) with weight ranging from 1000-1499 gm and group II - low birth weight (LBW)- weight ranging from 1500- 2190 gm. All data was entered into SPSS, version 22 and results were analyzed in percentages. Chi square test was applied to determine the significance of difference between the two groups and p value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: 175 positive cases of ICH in preterm and low-birth weight infants were studied and data tabulated with reference to birth weight, gestational age at birth and grades of ICH at admission and discharge. Out of 175 cases studied, grade of ICH was greater in group I - 132 cases while only 43 cases belonged to group II. The results clearly indicate that grade of ICH increases with decreasing gestational age. The grades of ICH were then compared at admission and discharge. When data were analyzed according to distribution by birth weight it was seen that frequency of cases belonging to LBW was 88.6 % while much lesser number of cases belonged to group 2 that is VLBW - only 11.4%. Conclusion: From this study it is concluded that severity of ICH at the time of discharge was directly proportional to severity of ICH at the time of admission in premature and low birth weight infants.

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