VISUAL IMPAIRMENT IN PRETERM CHILDREN WITH PERIVENTRICULAR LEUKOMALACIA - VISUAL, COGNITIVE AND NEUROPAEDIATRIC CHARACTERISTICS RELATED TO CEREBRAL IMAGING

Thirteen preterm children, aged 4 to 14 years, with visual impairment due to periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) were evaluated for visual fu nction, intellectual level, cognitive profile and motor function. Thei r visual impairment was characterized by low acuity, crowding, visual field defects and ocular motility disturbances. Their cognitive profil e was uneven, often with considerably higher scores on verbal than on visual-spatial tasks. Nine children had normal intelligence, fhree had mild mental retardation and one had severe mental retardation. In all the children, visual impairment was complicated by visual perceptual difficulties, accounting for their greater visual handicap than would be expected from their visual acuities and strabismus alone. Though CT or MRI revealed bilateral PVL in all the children, six had no motor i mpairment consistent with cerebral palsy, which is an unexpected findi ng.