INCIDENCE AND DESCRIPTION OF STRUCTURAL BRAIN ABNORMALITIES IN NEWBORNS EXPOSED TO COCAINE

Objective: This study was undertaken to determine whether an increased incidence of structural brain abnormalities could be demonstrated in newborns exposed to cocaine. Study design: This study was part of a pr ospective, longitudinal study of 154 cocaine users matched to 154 cont rol subjects on prenatal risk level, race, parity, and socioeconomic s tatus. Subjects were enrolled prenatally from a rural public health de partment population or at delivery. Drug exposure was determined by me ans of repeated, detailed histories and urine screening for drug metab olites. Ultrasonographic examinations were performed within 4 days of birth by experienced technologists and were read by one experienced ra diologist, each blinded to drug use history. Results: Cranial ultrason ography results were available for 266 infants (134 cocaine-exposed; 1 32 control). Only 27 infants had ultrasonography results that were not considered normal, and there were no significant differences between groups (17 cocaine-exposed vs 10 control; p = 0.119). Identified abnor malities included choroid plexus cysts, subependymal cysts, mildly dil ated ventricles, and a cyst of the third ventricle. Conclusions: The i ncidence of abnormal cranial ultrasonography results in our cocaine-ex posed group was lower than that previously reported in the literature and not significantly different from the control group. In addition, t he identified lesions were less severe than previously reported, despi te a wide range of cocaine use in our sample, including heavy use.