Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 9, Issue 1 9-15, Copyright © 1990 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Quantification of neonatal cerebral ventricular volume by real-time ultrasonography. In vivo validation of the cylindrical coordinate method
B. S. Brann 4th, C. Wofsy, L. A. Papile, P. Angelus and C. Backstrom
Department of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque 87131.
Posthemorrhagic ventricular dilation is a common clinical problem in
preterm infants who have incurred an intraventricular hemorrhage. Presently
there are no clinically applicable methods to follow quantitatively the
progression of ventricular dilation at bedside. We describe the in vivo
validation of a method to measure ventricular volume using bedside
real-time cranial ultrasonography. Six infants undergoing either serial
lumbar punctures or cerebral ventricular reservoir taps for posthemorrhagic
hydrocephalus were studied. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume removed
ranged from 5.5 mL to 30 mL. A strong correlation was found (r2 = 0.84)
between the volume of CSF removed by reservoir tap and the change in
ventricular volume calculated by the ultrasound method, whereas the
correlation between the volume of CSF removed at lumbar puncture and the
change in ventricular volume calculated by the ultrasound method was not as
strong (r2 = 0.70). Limitations and sources of error in the method are
discussed. We conclude that this procedure is accurate and offers a
quantitative method to follow longitudinally posthemorrhagic progressive
ventricular dilation.
