121 healthy premature born infants and full term newborns (corrected gestational age 29 to 45 weeks, weight at investigation 1070 to 3750 g) were investigated by pulsed Doppler sonography with a 5 MHz transducer. In all infants pulsed Doppler recordings were obtained from the internal carotid arteries (ICA), the basilar artery (BA) and both anterior cerebral arteries (ACA). From the flow profile the maximal systolic velocity (Vs), the endsystolic velocity (Ves) and the enddiastolic velocity (Ved), the time average velocity (TAV) and the time average maximal velocity (TAMX) as well as the resistance-index (RI) and the pulsatility-index (PI) were measured. For all parameters the relationship to the gestational age was analysed and normal values were established. There was a linear increase of all flow velocities with increasing gestational age. Vs in the ICA was about 20% higher than in the ACA and BA whereas Ves and Ved were not significantly different in the three arteries. The TAV in the ICA was 9% higher than in the ACA and 15% higher than in the BA. The TAMX in the ICA was 10% higher than in the ACA and 14% higher than in the BA. In contrast to the increase of the flow velocities neither the RI nor the PI showed a significant age dependency. For the RI in the ICA 0.77 +/- 0.08, in the ACA 0.73 +/- 0.08 and in the BA 0.72 +/- 0.09 were measured. The PI in the ICA was 3.0 +/- 0.08, in the ACA 2.7 +/- 0.09 and in the BA 2.7 +/- 0.7.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Fourteen infants (gestational age 28.4 +/- 4.4 weeks; birth weight 1170 +/- 910 g) with clinical and radiological signs of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) were investigated by pulsed Doppler sonography. Pulsed Doppler recordings were performed in the celiac trunk and the superior mesenteric artery at an age of 15 +/- 10 days. The peak systolic, end-systolic, end-diastolic and time average velocities were measured and compared with the flow velocities of a healthy control group. Infants with NEC showed a significant increase in peak systolic and time average velocity within the celiac trunk and the superior mesenteric artery in comparison with healthy infants.

Conventional colour coded Doppler sonography and power Doppler sonography are useful to differentiate between neuroblastoma and adrenal haemorrhage.

No abstract

Flow measurements in extra- and intracranial sections of the internal carotid arteries are an accurate method for semiquantitative estimation of increased intracranial pressure. This method is superior to the measurement of the RI. Slightly increased intracranial pressures below 20 cm H2O cause an increase of the I/E-ratio above 1, whereas the RI does not change. Moderately increase of the intracranial pressure above 20 cm H2O lowers the I/E-ratio significantly below normal values of 0.8, whereas the RI increases.