Cranial Doppler resistance index measurement in preterm newborns with cerebral white matter lesion Medidas do Ìndice de resistŒncia ao Doppler craniano em recØm-nascidos prØ-termo com lesªo da subst‚ncia branca cerebral

Abstract Objective: To investigate whether the resistance index (RI) withinthe first 72 hours of life of newborn infants with cerebral white matterlesion (WML) is correlated with the adverse outcome of WML.Methods: Retrospective study. Newborn infants with WML wereidentified based on cranial ultrasound results, and those with Dopplerimaging and RI measurement were selected. The newborn infants wereplaced in three groups: low ( €0.85) RI. The sample was analyzed as a whole at first and thenstratified according to birth weight.Results: According to the RI, cerebral blood flow was abnormal in46 (68.7%) patients, low in 42 (62.7%), and high in four (6%). Amongthose with a low RI, 15 (35.7%) had an adverse outcome, withultrasonographic signs of cerebral atrophy in 10 (23.8%) andintraventricular hemorrhage in five (11.9%) patients. The four newborninfants with a high RI also had an adverse outcome, one (25%) withsigns of cerebral atrophy and three (75%) with intraventricularhemorrhage. No statistically significant differences were observedbetween RI groups and the group with a fatal outcome.Conclusion: The study showed that abnormal RI within the first 72hours was associated with healing complications in newborn infantswith cerebral WML. Abnormal RI results were not correlated with thefatal outcome. Therefore, RI is an important parameter that should bemeasured in newborn infants.J Pediatr (Rio J). 2006;82(3):221-6: Newborn infants, brainwhite matter lesion, periventricular leukomalacia, periventricularwhite matter infarction, resistance index, Doppler ultrasound, birthweight.