Prenatal cocaine exposure and cranial sonographic findings in preterm infants

Abstract

Purpose Prenatal cocaine exposure has been linked with subependymal hemorrhage and the formation of cysts that are detectable on cranial sonography in neonates born at term. We sought to determine if prenatal cocaine exposure increases the incidence of subependymal cysts in preterm infants. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and cranial sonograms obtained during a 1‐year period on 122 premature (< 36 weeks of gestation) infants. Infants were categorized into 1 of 2 groups: those exposed to cocaine and those not exposed to cocaine. Infants were assigned to the cocaine‐exposed group if there was a maternal history of cocaine abuse during pregnancy or if maternal or neonatal urine toxicology results were positive at the time of delivery. Results Five of the 122 infants were excluded from the study because of insufficient medical and drug histories. The incidence of subependymal cysts in the 117 remaining infants was 14% (16 of 117). The incidence of subependymal cysts in infants exposed to cocaine prenatally was 44% (8 of 18) compared with 8% (8 of 99) in the unexposed group (p < 0.01). Conclusions We found an increased incidence of subependymal cyst formation in preterm infants who were exposed to cocaine prenatally. This result is consistent with results of similar studies in term infants. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 29:72–77, 2001.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Multifocal multi-organ ischaemia and infarction in a preterm baby due to maternal intravenous cocaine use: a case report

“…A prospective study [7] comparing light and heavy cocaine users with controls demonstrated an increased incidence of subependymal haemorrhage within term babies in the heavy cocaine user group only. A subsequent retrospective review [8] found a similar finding in preterm babies. Although, the review did not stratify according to cocaine usage, it suggested that this effect may have been even more pronounced in mothers who used large quantities.…”

Brain ultrasonography findings in neonates with exposure to cocaine during pregnancy

“…The literature shows conflicting data with regard to prenatal cocaine exposure in relation to CUS findings. Smith et al [13] found an increased incidence of subependymal cysts in neonates with prenatal cocaine exposure compared to non-exposed neonates (44% vs. 8%, P<0.01) [13]. Dogra et al [9] found abnormalities on CUS in 14 of 40 (35%) neonates, with prenatal cocaine exposure, whereas their age-matched control group showed no abnormalities on CUS.…”

“…Neonatal congenital anomalies seen on CUS have been related to prenatal cocaine exposure [13,23,24]. In our study population 24% of the neonates with antenatal cocaine exposure showed abnormalities on CUS.…”

“…In the neonate, detrimental effects on brain development have been reported [3,9,10]. These effects include, amongst others, infarction [11], subependymal cysts [12,13], haemorrhage, ventricular dilatation, and midline CNS defects [11]. Besides intracranial pathology, congenital malformations, intrauterine growth restriction [14], and neonatal abstinence syndrome [15] have also been reported.…”

Five‐year follow‐up of prematurely born children with postnatally developing caudothalamic cysts

“…Caudothalamic cysts, pre-and postnatally developing, have been reported in 5.8-8% of prematurely born infants (1,2) and in 10% of those born at term (3). Prenatal caudothalamic cysts have been reported in 5% of term born infants (4), but there is no information available on prevalence of postnatally developing cysts.…”