Background:Premature newborn infants are exposed to a wide spectrum of brain lesions which are clinically silent supporting a possible role of cerebral ultrasound screening. Aim of the study is to describe the pattern of cranial ultrasound abnormalities in preterm infants defining the short term and long term neurologic outcomes.Material and Methods:A hospital-based bedside cranial ultrasound was carried out at day 1, 3, 7 and follow-up scan at 3-6 months in the Department of Radio-diagnosis.Results:One hundred infants were included. The different abnormalities detected in cranial ultrasound of premature newborn infants include hydrocephalus in 12%, intracranial hemorrhage in 6%, brain edema in 6%, periventricular leukomalacia in 2%, choroid plexus cyst in 1%, intraventricular septa in 1% and colocephaly in 1%.Conclusion:Gestational age, newborn birth weight and neurologic symptoms were the most important risk factors for detecting brain lesions. The main purpose of cranial ultrasound was the demonstration or exclusion of an intracranial hemorrhage in a preterm neonate.

Sonographic evaluation of the umbilical cord coiling can be performed during routine foetal anatomic survey in the second trimester of pregnancy. Umbilical coiling index can be determined by dividing 1 by the intercoil distance in centimetres. Umbilical coiling index has been reported to be around 0.21 + 0.07 (standard deviation) coils per centimetre. Abnormal coiling in its two forms, hypercoiling and hypocoiling, have been reported to be more frequent in gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia.

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