Neurosonography findings in healthy infants and outcomes of their neurological development at the age of two years

Abstract

The morbidity and mortality of premature newborns, as well as their subsequent physical and psychomotor development were analyzed in many studies. Significantly fewer studies focused on neurosonographic examination of healthy full-term babies and their neurological characteristics later in life. Objective. To assess the effectiveness of screening neurosonography performed immediately after birth in healthy, full-term newborns by subsequent evaluation of their neurological and psychomotor development at the age of two years. Patients and methods. This study included 121 healthy full-term newborns (body weight at birth ≥ 2500 g; gestational age 39–41 weeks) born in 2018 in Yerevan, Republic of Armenia. All study participants underwent neurosonography; their neurological development at the age of 2 years was evaluated by a pediatrician using the Bayley scale. Results. No cases of serious brain lesions and hemorrhages were registered in out cohort of healthy full-term newborns. The majority of them (79%) had normal neurosonography results. The most common findings included lenticulostriate vasculopathy (7.4%), hyperechogenicity in the trigone region (6.6%), subependymal pseudocysts (1.6%), vascular plexus cysts (3.0%), and asymmetry of the lateral ventricles (3.3%). Conclusion. By the age of 2 years, problems with motor development were detected in 2% of participants, intellectual disability in 2% of participants, and speech disorders in 11% participants. None of the children had severe disability. Key words: preterm newborns, brain lesions, neurosonography, neurological development