Abstract
Real-time ultrasound brain scans were performed on 43 infants with birth weights less than 1500 grams. Subependymal or intraventricular hemorrhages were detected in 27 cases (62.8%). Nine infants (20.9%) had no ultrasound evidence of hemorrhage, and 7 infants (16.3%) had equivocal scans. ICH was diagnosed during the first postnatal day in 25 infants and within 4 hours of birth in 11. The relationship of maternal isoxsuprine and betamethasone administration to perinatal ICH was investigated retrospectively. Infants with equivocal ultrasound scans were excluded. ICH was present in 44.4% (4/9) of infants whose mothers received both isoxsuprine and betamethasone as opposed to 83.3% (15/18) of infants whose mother received neither drug (p < 0.05), and 87.5% (7/8) of infants whose mother received betamethasone alone. The groups were similar with respect to birthweight and gestational age. When mothers who received both drugs were compared with those who received betamethasone alone, there was no difference in the length of time from betamethasone treatment to delivery, nor in the severity of subsequent neonatal respiratory distress. The decreased incidence of ICH in infants of women treated with both drugs may be due to the physiological effects of isoxsuprine. This raises the possibility of reducing the incidence of perinatal ICH with prenatal pharmacological intervention.
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Horbar, J., Leahy, K. & Lucey, J. 1329 THE INCIDENCE OF PERINATAL INTRACRANIAL HEMORRHAGE (ICH) FOLLOWING MATERNAL ADMINISTRATION OF ISOXSUPRINE AND BETAMETHASONE. Pediatr Res 15 (Suppl 4), 664 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-01358
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-01358