Neurosensory outcome of prematurely born children following intracranial hemorrhage

Abstract

Introduction. More and more survival of newborns with small or extremely small body mass at birth, as well as increasing percent of prematurely born babies, have emphasized the significance of intracranial haemorrhage problem. Prematurely born infants are under increased risk for strabismus, amblyopia, blinding and hearing loss. Objective. Establishing the frequency of sensory damages (damage of sight and hearing) in prematurely born infants with various degrees of intracranial haemorrhage. Methods. The study is prospective, controlled and included 120 prematurely born infants with diagnosed four different grade intracranial haemorrhage on ultrasonic examination of the central nervous system. The study excluded prematurely born children from twin pregnancies with congenital malformations and stoppage of intrauterine growth. Ophthalmological examination was done at 9, 12, and 36 months of postnatal age. Audilogical examination was done after delivery, at 2 months of age. Results. There are statistically significant differences (p<0.01) related to the presence of strabismus among groups of examinees with vairious hemorrhage degrees. Strabismus was present only in one premature infant with 1st and in 10 children (33.3%) with the 4th degree. Amblyopia occurred only among examinees with 4th degree hemorrhage. There were statistically significant differences (p<0.01) related to the finding of transitory otoacoustic emission of the left ear and the right ear among the groups. The finding of the right ear was not usual in 7 examinees from the 4th degree hemorrhage. The finding of the left ear was not usual in 1 examinee from the third and in 7 examinees from the fourth group. Conclusion. Prematurely born children with a higher degree intracranial hemorrhage have a greater risk for the loss of hearing and development of visual handicap.