NEONATAL CRANIAL ULTRASOUND SCREENING FOR INTRAVENTRICULAR HEMORRHAGE

The cost effectiveness of performing routine neonatal cranial ultrasou nd scans to diagnose intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH) on cohorts of high risk infants is in question, In the early 1980s cranial ultrasoun d scans were performed on preterm infants to expand knowledge of the i ncidence, aetiology, pathogenesis and evolution of IVH. In many neonat al units high risk infants are scanned on days 5-7 and 10-14 and prior to discharge for extremely low birthweight (ELBW) infants, Cranial ul trasound scanning is often used as a surrogate for assessment of neuro developmental outcome with information from meta analyses used to coun sel parents about the likelihood of subsequent neurosensory disability .