Surgical interventions and short-term outcomes for preterm infants with post-haemorrhagic hydrocephalus: a multicentre cohort study.

Objective: To (1) describe differences in types and timing of interventions, (2) report short-term outcomes and (3) describe differences among centres from a large national cohort of preterm infants with post-haemorrhagic hydrocephalus (PHH).

Design: Cohort study of the Children's Hospitals Neonatal Database from 2010 to 2022.

Setting: 41 referral neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in North America.

Patients: Infants born before 32 weeks' gestation with PHH defined as acquired hydrocephalus with intraventricular haemorrhage.

Interventions: (1) No intervention, (2) temporising device (TD) only, (3) initial permanent shunt (PS) and (4) TD followed by PS (TD-PS).

Main Outcome Measures: Mortality and meningitis.

Results: Of 3883 infants with PHH from 41 centres, 36% had no surgical intervention, 16% had a TD only, 19% had a PS only and 30% had a TD-PS. Of the 46% of infants with TDs, 76% were reservoirs; 66% of infants with TDs required PS placement. The percent of infants with PHH receiving ventricular access device placement differed by centre, ranging from 4% to 79% (p<0.001). Median chronological and postmenstrual age at time of TD placement were similar between infants with only TD and those with TD-PS. Infants with TD-PS were older and larger than those with only PS at time of PS placement. Death before NICU discharge occurred in 12% of infants, usually due to redirection of care. Meningitis occurred in 11% of the cohort.

Conclusions: There was significant intercentre variation in rate of intervention, which may reflect variability in care or referral patterns. Rate of PS placement in infants with TDs was 66%.