Lateral ventricular effacement as an isolated sonographic finding in premature infants: prevalence and significance.

The sonographic finding of effaced lateral ventricles in premature infants, defined as the absence of visible CSF within the lateral ventricles on both coronal and sagittal sonograms, may be cause to suspect diffuse cerebral edema, especially as published reference standards do not address this phenomenon. This investigation was undertaken to determine the prevalence and significance of effaced lateral ventricles without associated parenchymal abnormality (isolated lateral ventricular effacement, or ILVE) in premature infants.Sonographic records of 398 consecutive newborns examined from January 1 to December 31, 1993, were reviewed retrospectively to identify those premature infants (< 36 weeks of gestational age) whose initial sonograms showed no evidence of intracranial hemorrhage, ventriculomegaly, structural abnormality, or abnormal parenchymal echogenicity. We identified 142 neonates who met these criteria. Patients were separated into two groups on the basis of whether they had at least one sonograp...