Relationship between Brain MRI and Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Term Infants with Severe Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy

PURPOSE: We analyzed the relationship between MRI patterns and neurologic outcome and explored the effectiveness of MRI as a tool for predicting the outcome. METHODS: We analyzed 23 full term infants with severe HIE retrospectively who were admitted to our NICU from Sep. 1993 to May 1998. Their MRI findings were classified into 4 patterns : type I : deep gray matter injury; type II : cortical, subcortical white matter injury; type III : localized periventricular white matter injury; and type IV : mixed injury. Neurodevelopmental outcome was assessed at a mean age of 30.7 months and the patients were grouped in two - neurodevelopmentally normal(8 cases) and delayed(15 cases, including 4 deaths). RESULTS: All type I patients(n=3) showed severe neurodevelopmental delay. Of seven type II patients, three developed normally(42.9%) and four showed developmental delay(57.1%). All type III patients(n=4) developed normally(P=0.008). Of nine type IV patients, one(11.1%) developed normally and eight(88.9%) showed severe developmental delay. There were twelve patients with lesions including thalamus and basal ganglia injury in MRI(type I+IV) and most of them(n=11, 91.7%) were severely developmentally delayed(P=0.002). Acute total asphyxic insult was documented in 9 of the 23 infants, 8 of 9(88.9%) had patterns of lesions including thalamus and basal ganglia injury. The neurologic outcome was poor for all except one of these patients. CONCLUSION: All the patients with periventricular white matter injury in MRI developed normally whereas all except one patient with subcortical gray matter injury showed severe neurodevelopmental delay. The patterns of brain injury shown in the MRIs of term infants with severe HIE provided significant information about the prognosis for the neurodevelopmental outcome of these infants.

A Case of Laryngeal Ductal Cyst Who has History of Endotracheal Intubation / 소아알레르기및호흡기학회지

Laryngeal cysts can be classified into saccular (24%) or ductal (75%) cysts. In infants who have undergone intubation, ductal cysts are occasionally seen in the subglottic region. These cysts are caused by irritation and obstruction of mucous gland ducts. A 20-month-old infant admitted to our department due to inspiratory stridor, wheezing, and dyspnea. She was born prematurely and had a past history of endotracheal intubation with ventilator of 9 days because of respiratory distress syndrome. At 31 days of age, she was intubated again for 5 days because of pneumonia. She had admitted our hospital repeatedly at 7, 8, 16, and 17 months because of inspiratory stridor, wheezing, cough and dyspnea and she was diagnosed as asthmatic bronchitis. But symptoms developed again, she readmitted. A lateral X-ray film of the neck and neck spiral CT revealed a 6x5 mm sized homogeneous mass in the posterior wall of the subglottic region causing airway obstruction. A laryngoscopy was performed and showed a 4x5 mm sized cystic mass in the subglottic region. Endoscopic resection was done by Nd : Yag laser. The postoperative course was satisfactory. Histologic examination showed a ductal cyst, lined with ciliated cuboidal epithelium. This subglottic ductal cyst was believed to be a late complication of endotracheal intubation.

Four Cases of Congenital Depressed Skull Fractures in Neonates

Depressed skull fractures in newborn babies mainly result from birth injury and rarely occurr in intrauterine life without any definable etiology. We present 4 cases of congenital intrauterine depressed skull fractures which were discovered at birth in neonates. Three babies (case 1, 2, 3) had round shallow depressions without adjacent soft tissue injury except the last one (case 4), showing sharp angulation in the center of the depression. They had neither birth trauma nor forceps applications and they were healthy without neurologic symptoms. We performed nonsurgical reduction using vacuum extractor in all cases. Three cases were reduced successfully, but the last one failed due to sharp angulation in the center of the depression. It was reduced successfully by surgical elevation using a Freer elevator. Reduction should be performed in congenital depressed skull fractures without neurologic symptoms, because brain compression by depressed fracture results in brain injury or epileptic focus. Nonsurgical reduction should be prior to surgical reduction because of its technical feasability, safety and good results, but surgical reduction should be attempted in the case of sharp angulation in the center of the depression.