| Prediction of neurosensory disability in very low birth weight preterm infants. Structural and functional brain imaging and hearing screening at term age and follow-up of infants to a corrected age of 18 months | ||
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Parenchymal lesions in brain MRI at term age are very sensitive, and better than in US, for predicting motor disability in VLBW preterm infants. A brain MRI examination at term age can therefore be recommended for VLBW preterm infants whenever available.
Brain perfusion SPET at term age predicts CP in VLBW preterm infants with the same accuracy as US. SPET distinguishes the most severe CP forms very well, but the clinical use of the method is restricted by the radiation exposure involved.
The brainstem dimension changes seen in MRI at term age were so unremarkable that an abnormal neurosensory outcome cannot be predicted on these grounds alone in VLBW preterm infants, whereas abnormalities in BAEP predict neurosensory disability relatively well.
The predictive value of ABR at term age was better than that of TEOAE or FF for identifying cases of permanent hearing loss among VLBW preterm infants. The false failure rate in TEOAE was high in preterm infants. TEOAE failed to identify hearing loss in two infants with CP, possibly because a defect may be due to retrocochlear damage. TEOAE alone is not so applicable to the neonatal screening of hearing in VLBW preterm infants as in full-term infants.