[Ultrasound echography (A-scan) of the cerebral ventricles in newborn infants: its relation to the degree of maturity and clinical significance].

Since during fetal development the intracerebral ventricular system shows characteristic changes wer tried to varify wether there is a relationship between the width of the ventricles of the newborn and the degree of maturity. In 304 neurologically healthy newborn infants (28. until 42. weeks of gestation) the ventricular diameters in the region of body of the lateral ventricles were measured by ultrasound (A-mode) once between the third and eight day of life. In addition the cella-media-indices were calculated. With increasing maturation we found wider ventricles. Also the cella-media-indices were higher in the more mature infants which we believe is the result from growth of cerebral substance in the last third of pregnancy. Small-for-date infants born at term showed significantly lower cella-media-indices than normal weight term babies (p less than 0,01). These results may help interprete sonographic and computertomographic measurements of the premature ventricles. The significance of ventricular diameters smaller or larger than our normal values is not yet exactly understood and further studies are needed.