Utility of Cranial Ultrasound to Investigate Brain Injury in Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy.

Background: With increasing availability of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in high-income countries, cranial ultrasound (cUS) is used less frequently to evaluate infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). This study aimed to correlate findings of brain injury on early postnatal cUS with brain injury on neonatal brain MRI performed as part of routine clinical care for near-term and term infants with moderate to severe HIE.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study comparing early postnatal cUS and later neonatal brain MRI using scoring systems with prognostic validity to assess brain injury in near-term/term infants with moderate or severe HIE.

Relationships between early postnatal cranial ultrasonography linear measures and neurodevelopment at 2 years in infants born at <30 weeks' gestational age without major brain injury.

Objective: To explore relationships of early postnatal cranial ultrasonography (cUS) linear measures of brain size and brain growth with neurodevelopment at 2 years in infants born <30 weeks' gestational age (GA) and free of major brain injury.

Design: Prospective observational cohort study.

Setting: Tertiary neonatal intensive care unit.

Relationships between early postnatal cranial ultrasonography linear measures and neurobehaviour at term-equivalent age in infants born <30 weeks' gestational age.

Background: The relationship between early postnatal brain development and neurobehaviour at term-equivalent age (TEA) remains uncertain.

Aim: We aimed to explore relationships between early postnatal cranial ultrasonography (cUS) linear measures of brain size and brain growth with neurobehaviour at TEA in infants born <30 weeks' gestational age (GA).

Study Design: Prospective observational cohort study.

Severe early-onset fetal growth restriction: What do we tell the prospective parents?

Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is a common complication of pregnancy, associated with higher risk of perinatal mortality and adverse health and developmental outcomes for surviving infants. True FGR relates to a pathological restriction of fetal growth resulting from complex interactions between maternal, placental, fetal, and environmental factors. Early-onset FGR (onset <32 weeks' gestation) is often first suspected at routine mid-trimester sonographic assessment of fetal morphology, or identified as part of the placental syndrome, commonly maternal pre-eclampsia.

The rhesus incompatible pregnancy and its consequences for affected fetuses and neonates.

Rhesus incompatibility in pregnancy may result in haemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN). This review discusses the fetal, neonatal and long-term consequences of HDFN and its management. Untreated, the fetal and neonatal prognosis of HDFN is poor.

Ethical Considerations in Multiple Pregnancy: Preterm Delivery in the Setting of Discordant Fetal Anomaly.

Planning for the preterm birth of a fetus with known anomalies can raise complex ethical issues. This is particularly true of multiple pregnancies, where the interests of each fetus and of the expectant parent(s) can conflict. In these complex situations, parental wishes and values can also conflict with the recommendations of treating clinicians.

Continuum of neurobehaviour and its associations with brain MRI in infants born preterm.

Background: Infants born very preterm (VPT) and moderate-to-late preterm (MLPT) are at increased risk of long-term neurodevelopmental deficits, but how these deficits relate to early neurobehaviour in MLPT children is unclear. The aims of this study were to compare the neurobehavioural performance of infants born across three different gestational age groups: preterm <30 weeks' gestational age (PT<30); MLPT (32-36 weeks' gestational age) and term age (≥37 weeks' gestational age), and explore the relationships between MRI brain abnormalities and neurobehaviour at term-equivalent age.

Methods: Neurobehaviour was assessed at term-equivalent age in 149 PT<30, 200 MLPT and 200 term-born infants using the Neonatal Intensive Care UnitNetwork Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS), the Hammersmith Neonatal Neurological Examination (HNNE) and Prechtl's Qualitative Assessment of General Movements (GMA).