TY - JOUR
T1 - Early neurologic assessment in preterm-infants
T2 - Integration of traditional neurologic examination and observation of general movements
AU - Maurizio Romeo, Domenico Marco
AU - Guzzetta, Andrea
AU - Scoto, Mariacristina
AU - Cioni, Matteo
AU - Patusi, Pietro
AU - Mazzone, Domenico
AU - Giuseppe Romeo, Mario
PY - 2008/5
Y1 - 2008/5
N2 - Objective: To evaluate the possible additional benefit in terms of prognostic accuracy of an integrated application of a traditional scorable method of neurologic examination and the Prechtl's method of qualitative assessment of general movements (GMs) in a large population of 903 consecutive preterm infants. Study design: Infants were enrolled from the Intensive Care Unit of the University of Catania. Inclusion criteria were a gestational age below 37 weeks and the absence of genetic disorders. All infants underwent serial ultrasound and at 3 months performed both the GMs assessment and the Hammersmith Infant Neurologic Examination (HINE). Outcome was assessed at 2 years by the Touwen neurologic examination and the Clinical Adaptive Test/Clinical, Linguistic and Auditory Milestone Scale. Results: The integration of the two methods was shown to be more effective than the single assessments in predicting neurologic outcome. The additional benefit of combining the two approaches was particularly clear for the discrimination between unilateral and bilateral cerebral palsy. Conclusions: The integrated use of a scorable neurological examination and Prechtl's assessment of GMs can improve early prediction of neurodevelopmental outcome in preterm infants and should complement other clinical and instrumental exams in follow-up programs.
AB - Objective: To evaluate the possible additional benefit in terms of prognostic accuracy of an integrated application of a traditional scorable method of neurologic examination and the Prechtl's method of qualitative assessment of general movements (GMs) in a large population of 903 consecutive preterm infants. Study design: Infants were enrolled from the Intensive Care Unit of the University of Catania. Inclusion criteria were a gestational age below 37 weeks and the absence of genetic disorders. All infants underwent serial ultrasound and at 3 months performed both the GMs assessment and the Hammersmith Infant Neurologic Examination (HINE). Outcome was assessed at 2 years by the Touwen neurologic examination and the Clinical Adaptive Test/Clinical, Linguistic and Auditory Milestone Scale. Results: The integration of the two methods was shown to be more effective than the single assessments in predicting neurologic outcome. The additional benefit of combining the two approaches was particularly clear for the discrimination between unilateral and bilateral cerebral palsy. Conclusions: The integrated use of a scorable neurological examination and Prechtl's assessment of GMs can improve early prediction of neurodevelopmental outcome in preterm infants and should complement other clinical and instrumental exams in follow-up programs.
KW - General movements
KW - Hammersmith Infant Neurologic Examination
KW - Neurodevelopmental outcome
KW - Preterm infant
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ejpn.2007.07.008
DO - 10.1016/j.ejpn.2007.07.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 17881261
AN - SCOPUS:42149167527
VL - 12
SP - 183
EP - 189
JO - European Journal of Paediatric Neurology
JF - European Journal of Paediatric Neurology
SN - 1090-3798
IS - 3
ER -