Intracranial compliance in infants: evaluation with Doppler US.

Publication/Presentation Date

6-1-1994

Abstract

PURPOSE: To test graded fontanelle compression during Doppler ultrasound (US) scanning to identify and monitor infants with altered cranial compliance.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: An ophthalmodynamometer exerted pressure on the anterior fontanelle during Doppler US scanning of the middle cerebral artery. Sixty examinations were performed in 43 infants--13 full-term and 11 premature healthy control subjects, 10 with increased intracranial volume, and nine with suspected abnormal cranial compliance but without increased intracranial volume. Resistive index (RI) and angle-corrected time-averaged mean velocities (TAV) of blood flow were compared at three different pressures.

RESULTS: Baseline RI values in healthy full-term infants were significantly lower than in healthy premature infants and infants with abnormal compliance (P < .05). Values for healthy premature infants and infants with abnormal compliance were indistinguishable (P > .5). Neither RI nor TAV changed significantly in healthy infants, but both changed significantly with compression in infants with abnormal cranial compliance.

CONCLUSION: This procedure may be more useful than measurement of RI of the anterior cerebral artery alone to evaluate infants with altered cranial compliance.

Volume

191

Issue

3

First Page

787

Last Page

791

ISSN

0033-8419

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences | Pediatrics

PubMedID

8184065

Department(s)

Department of Pediatrics

Document Type

Article

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