Of 214 preterm infants studied at Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 94 (44%) had a grade 111 intraventricular hemorrhage (1VH), and 120 (56%) had a grade IV hemorrhage. Post-hemorrhagic ventricular dilatation (PHVD) developed significantly more often in survivors with grade III hemorrhage (78%) than in infants with grade IV hemorrhage (53%)(p=0.002). Cerebral palsy developed in 7.4% of the surviving grade III group, compared with 48.7% with a grade IV hemorrhage (p<0.001). The mean developmental quotient (DQ) was 99 in grade III group and 95 in the grade IV group at 24 months corrected age. The DQ was significantly lower in infants with cerebral palsy, irrespective of severity of IVH. [1]
COMMENT. Outcome was better than expected in preterm infants with severe IVH.