VISUAL OUTCOME AT 5 YEARS OF NEWBORN-INFANTS AT RISK OF CEREBRAL VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

Visual development at 5 sears of age was tested in a group of 39 child ren who had shown severe neonatal encephalopathy or perinatal brain le sions, documented bs medical history, cranial ultrasound, or MRI. In a ll children, grating acuity was tested during the first 2 years of lif e. The assessment protocol at 5 years included various visual function s (grating and resolution acuity, visual held size, depth perception, optokinetic nystagmus, and ocular motility), and neurological and cogn itive development. The majority of the children showed visual disorder s of different type and degree, which were not due to ophthalmological abnormalities. Visual defects correlated well with the results of ear ly visual assessment and of neuroimaging. Visual outcome could be pred icted by grating acuity at 1 to 2 sears in 27 of the 39 children, by n eonatal cranial ultrasound in 26 of the 32 cases examined bs this tech nique, and bs later MRI in 23 out of 27. Moreover, a significant corre lation was found between visual, motor, and cognitive impairment.