Intracerebral Hemorrhage in the Full-Term Neonatal Infant

Supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage was diagnosed in 18 full-term neonates, including six with primarily intraparenchymal hemorrhage and 12 with primarily intraventricular hemorrhage. Precipitating or associated factors were hypoxic-ischemic injury in five patients, polycythemia in two, and cranial birth trauma in two. Nine other infants had no identifiable medical risk events. The pathogenesis of intraparenchymal hemorrhage was probably related to hemorrhagic infarction, but the pathogenesis of intraventricular hemorrhage was often unknown. All 17 survivors returned for neurologic and developmental examinations between 1 and 7 years of age. Follow-up assessments were normal in nine children and abnormal in eight. Two had perceptual difficulties, three had moderate-to-severe cognitive deficiencies (two of the three had hemiplegia), and three had severe mental and neurologic handicaps. Eight of nine children with known or suspected hypoxic-ischemic or traumatic insults suffered moderate-to-severe disabilities whereas eight of nine children with no known precipitating cause for their hemorrhage developed normally.