Histopathological chorioamnionitis does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of white matter injury on magnetic resonance imaging or with abnormalities of brain development. In contrast, postnatal infections and hypotension are associated with an increased risk of white matter injury in the premature newborn.

Object Approximately 30% of children with posterior fossa tumors exhibit hydrocephalus after tumor resection. Recent literature has suggested that prophylactic endoscopic third ventriculostomy diminishes the risk of this event. Because the majority of patients will not have postoperative hydrocephalus, a preoperative clinical prediction rule that identifies patients at high or low risk for postresection hydrocephalus would be helpful to optimize the care of these children. Methods The authors evaluated a derivation cohort of 343 consecutive children with posterior fossa tumors who underwent treatment between 1989 and 2003. Multivariate methods were used on these data to generate the Canadian Preoperative Prediction Rule for Hydrocephalus. The rule's estimated risk of postresection hydrocephalus was compared with risk observed in 111 independent patients in the validation cohort. Results Variables identified as significant in predicting postresection hydrocephalus were age < 2 years (score of 3), papilledema (score of 1), moderate to severe hydrocephalus (score of 2), cerebral metastases (score of 3), and specific estimated tumor pathologies (score of 1). Patients with scores ≥ 5 were deemed as high risk. Predicted probabilities for the high- and low-risk groups were 0.73 and 0.25, respectively, from the derivation cohort, and 0.59 and 0.14 after prevalence adjustment compared with the observed values of 0.42 and 0.17 in the validation cohort. Conclusions A patient's score on the Preoperative Prediction Rule for Hydrocephalus will allow improved patient counseling and surgical planning by identifying patients at high risk of developing postresection hydrocephalus. These patients might selectively be exposed to the risks of preresection CSF diversion to improve outcome.

White matter injury (WMI) is the characteristic pattern of brain injury detected on magnetic resonance imaging in the premature newborn. Focal noncystic WMI is increasingly recognized in populations of term newborns. The aim of this study was to describe the occurrence of focal noncystic WMI in a cohort of 48 term newborns with encephalopathy studied with magnetic resonance imaging at 72 Ϯ 12 h of life, and to identify clinical risk factors for this pattern of injury. Eleven newborns (23%; 95% CI 11-35) were found to have WMI (four minimal, three moderate, and four severe). In 10 of the 11 newborns, the WMI was associated with restricted diffusion on apparent diffusion coefficient maps. An increasing severity of WMI was associated with lower gestational age at birth (p ϭ 0.05), but not lower birth weight. Newborns with WMI had milder encephalopathy and fewer clinical seizures relative to other newborns in the cohort. Other brain injuries were seen in three of the 11 newborns: basal nuclei predominant pattern of injury in one and cortical strokes in two. These findings suggest that WMI in the term newborn is acquired near birth and that the state of brain maturation is an important determinant of this pattern of brain injury. injury (WMI) with characteristic topography that is well-recognized by cranial ultrasound in premature newborns (1,2). The increasing use of early-life magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has revealed a spectrum of WMI that includes focal noncystic WMI (1,3,4). WMI is increasingly recognized as the most prevalent pattern of brain injury in the premature newborn (3,5,6). The severity of WMI in premature newborns is a predictor of adverse neurodevelopmental outcome (3,7). Recent studies suggest that the vulnerability of the premature newborn to WMI relates to the vulnerability of specific developmentally regulated cell populations prevalent in the white matter in the early-mid third trimester of gestation: e.g. late oligodendrocyte progenitor cells and subplate neurons (8 -11).However, WMI does not occur exclusively in premature newborns, and is increasingly recognized in some populations of term newborns. Term newborns with congenital heart disease (CHD) seem to be at particularly high risk of WMI, perhaps due to impairments in in utero brain development (12-15). Recent in vivo data suggest that newborns with CHD have delayed brain development before cardiac surgery, possibly as a result of impaired cerebral oxygen delivery in utero (15). WMI is also recognized in the setting of term neonatal encephalopathy (NE). In a series of postmortem examinations of term newborns with NE, three of 21 newborns (14%) had small foci of established gliosis in the periventricular white matter, in addition to evidence of acute hypoxic-ischemic lesions (16). In newborns with basal ganglia injury in the context of NE, white matter damage is seen on MRI in nearly one half of the cases (17,18). However, the timing of injury and risk factors for WMI in term newborns with NE remain largely unknown.The aim of ...

Diffusion-weighted MRI is the most sensitive technique with which to assess brain injury on day 3 of life in term newborns with neonatal encephalopathy, particularly for cortical injury and focal-multifocal lesions such as stroke and white matter injury. All 3 modalities identify the most serious patterns of brain injury similarly.

The objectives of the study were (1) to determine the interobserver variation in interpretation of abdominal radiographs in children with clinically suspected intussusception, and (2) to determine the diagnostic value of abdominal radiographs in these patients. One hundred and eighty-two plain abdominal radiographic examinations (AXR) performed in children with clinically suspected intussusception were reviewed blind to the clinical history and findings of air enema. The presence or absence of nine AXR signs relevant to intussusception was documented. Each AXR was categorized as equivocal, positive or negative for intussusception, with the aim of achieving no false negatives. Interobserver variation in the identification of AXR signs and radiologic diagnoses was calculated using the kappa statistic for 60 cases assessed independently by three observers. Using the findings of air enema as gold standard, the prevalence of AXR signs in all patients with (60) and without (122) intussusception was determined and their diagnostic values calculated. The best observer agreement was for the presence of sparse small bowel gas (supine, k = 0.68) and the worst for the presence of cecal gas (erect, k = 0.18). All three observers agreed intussusception to be present or absent in only 7 of 60 cases and the majority agreement was equivocal in more than half. Overall agreement between observers for the diagnosis of intussusception was k = 0.30. The best positive predictors of intussusception were the soft tissue mass and sparse large bowel gas, with likelihood ratios of 3.9 and 2.5. Cecal feces predicted against intussusception, likelihood ratio 0.11. AXR was equivocal in 53%, positive in 21% and negative in 26%. Where a firm radiographic diagnosis was made, the diagnostic accuracy of AXR was 84%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)