Intracranial sonography in infancy.

Neonates and older infants were subjected to sonography through the anterior fontanelle with grey-scale compound scanner. The patients were referred to us from neurosurgery or showed clinical symptoms of perinatal CNS damage (ventricular or intracerebral haemorrhage, subdural effusion, etc.) or malformations (meningomyelocele, encephalocele, cystic brain, cerebral dysgenesis, etc.). Sonography is the simplest non-invasive diagnostic method to exclude suspected hydrocephalus in cases of macrocephalus, or when the head of premature infants grows more rapidly than the rest of the body. When screening showed alterations, sonography was performed weekly or fortnightly according to the extent of deviation from the normal. In cases of progressive hydrocephalus, when shunt surgery was indicated, ultrasound was used to monitor the operation of the shunt. In early age, ultrasound is a tool equal in value to CT, but is far less expensive and the examination can safely be repeated at any time.