Real time ultrasound diagnosis of hemorrhagic pathological conditions in the posterior fossa of preterm infants.

Real time echoencephalography (RTE) was used to diagnose and serially follow intracranial pathological conditions in the posterior fossa of infants with a gestational age of less than 34 weeks. The posterior fossa was studied in four planes (coronal, modified coronal, sagittal, and parasagittal) with a sector scanner equipped with a high frequency transducer that was placed on the fontanelles and the sutures. Hemorrhagic complications were easily differentiated from normal anatomy. RTE diagnosis was confirmed with computed tomographic scans (5 patients) and postmortem examination of the brain (18 infants). RTE is a precise and noninvasive technique to visualize hemorrhagic and other forms of abnormalities in the infratentorial compartment.