Title:Cranial Ultrasound - Optimizing Utility in the NICU
Volume: 10
Issue: 1
Author(s): Gerda van Wezel-Meijler and Linda S de Vries
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Neonate, brain, cranial ultrasound, imaging.
Abstract: Cranial ultrasonography (cUS) is a reliable tool to detect the most frequently occurring congenital and acquired
brain abnormalities in full-term and preterm neonates.
Appropriate equipment, including a dedicated ultrasound machine and appropriately sized transducers with special settings
for cUS of the newborn brain, and ample experience of the ultrasonographist are required to obtain optimal image
quality. When, in addition, supplemental acoustic windows are used whenever indicated and cUS imaging is performed
from admission throughout the neonatal period, the majority of the lesions will be diagnosed with information on timing
and evolution of brain injury and on ongoing brain maturation. For exact determination of site and extent of lesions, for
detection of lesions that (largely or partially) remain beyond the scope of cUS and for depiction of myelination, a single,
well timed MRI examination is invaluable in many high risk neonates. However, as cUS enables bedside, serial imaging it
should be used as the primary brain imaging modality in high risk neonates.
