Influence of gestational age on the type of brain injury and neuromotor outcome in high-risk neonates

Abstract

This study was an investigation of a possible correlation between either the gestational age (GA) and type of brain injury or between the gestational age and type, distribution and severity of cerebral palsy (CP). Four hundred sixty-one children with a birthweight > or = 1250 g and GA > or = 30 weeks with a complicated neonatal period and/or brain injury on serial cerebral ultrasound were selectively followed at the regional Center for Developmental Disorders. The children were divided into a preterm and term group. There were 40 children with cerebral palsy in the preterm group and 38 children with cerebral palsy in the term group. Various types of brain injury diagnosed by echography were nosologically classified. The type, distribution and severity of cerebral palsy were also registered. The type of brain injury most frequently occurring in the term group was hypoxic-ischemic injury to the basal ganglia (39%), focal ischemia (18%), subcortical hemorrhage (13%) and parasagittal cerebral injury (10%). In the preterm group 39% of the children with cerebral palsy had periventricular leukomalacia, 24% intraventricular hemorrhage and 18% persistent flares. There was a significant correlation between the GA and type of brain injury (P < 0.001; Cramer's V = 0.76) and between the GA and type (P = 0.004; Cramer's V = 0.47) and distribution (P < 0.001; Cramer's V = 0.55) of CP. There was no significant correlation between the GA and severity of CP. The type of brain injury detected by serial ultrasound during the neonatal period, as well as the type and location of CP detected during later childhood, are all GA-dependent in at-risk newborn infants with a birthweight of > or = 1,250 g and GA > or = 30 weeks.