Maternal administration of magnesium sulfate (MS) has been associated with improved neonatal survival and lower risk of cerebral palsy(CP). MS blocks the NMDA receptor, a mechanism for hypoxic brain injury. It is not known whether MS reduces the incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), a marker for hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. We hypothesized that maternal administration of MS would decrease IVH. We retrospectively examined records of 470 inborn(7/1/89 - 10/31/95) infants (23 - 32 weeks gestation) who survived to discharge. None of the mothers had PIH or chronic hypertension. All infants had cranial ultrasound within the first 7-10 days. Infants were classified into MS Gp (mothers received MS); Non-MS Gp (mothers received other tocolytics) and Control Gp (mothers received no tocolytics). The demographic profile of the study population is as follows: Table

Table 1
Full size table

IVH rates are similar in the 3 groups. The data shows, when MS is given in the antenatal period, it does not decrease the incidence of IVH in non-asphyxiated preterm infants. 7.48% died in the MS Gp when compared to 16% in the control Gp (p<0.02). We speculate that the lack of difference in IVH rates may be due to no documented evidence of hypoxic insult in our study population. However, long-term follow-up is needed to determine if it provides any other neuro-protection (eg, against CP).