Rosenstein B J, Wheeler J S, Heid P L
Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
J Urol. 1990 Jul;144(1):110-2. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5347(17)39384-9.
To determine the incidence of renal abnormalities among infants exposed to cocaine in utero, we performed ultrasound studies of the genitourinary tract in 100 consecutive infants admitted to the full-term nursery whose mothers had a history of cocaine use during pregnancy and/or a maternal toxicology screen was positive for cocaine. Mean gestational age of the newborns was 38.4 +/- 2.1 weeks. Mean birth weight was 2,846 +/- 561 gm.; 26% of the patients were less than 2,500 gm. and 18% were small for gestational age. Symptoms of drug withdrawal were present in 47 patients. Two newborns had murmurs consistent with a ventricular septal defect. On ultrasonography, 1 newborn had a unilateral multicystic/dysplastic kidney and 1 had kidneys that were 2 standard deviations below normal in size. Based on our results routine renal ultrasound studies do not appear to be indicated in full-term newborns exposed in utero to cocaine.
