Association between Intracerebral Hemorrhage and Cerebral Palsy in Preterm Infant: A Systematic Review Article

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a type of intracranial bleed that occurs within the brain tissue or ventricles. The present study aimed to review the association between ICH and cerebral palsy (CP) in the preterm infants.

In the systematic review, the electronic databases of Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane, EMBASE, and Scopus were systematically searched to find the relevant studies using the main keywords of (Premature OR Preterm OR Premature Infant OR Premature Birth) AND (Cerebral Palsy) AND (Brain Hemorrhage OR Intracranial Hemorrhages OR Cerebral Hemorrhage OR Putaminal Hemorrhage) up to October 26, 2019.

Finally, three studies with 1,730 participants were enrolled in this study. In the first study, results showed no strong association between early brain lesions with subsequent neurological consequences; in addition, the association between chorioamnionitis in intrauterine life was not substantiated with the incidence of brain lesions. In the second study, results showed progression of brain lesions and neurodevelopmental disorders like other previous studies in the follow-up of very preterm (VPT) infants up to the age of two; overall, the preterm infants are at greater risk of brain damage and neurodevelopmental disorders than term infants, independent of risk factors. In the third study, a neurological assessment was performed in the fourth, 8th, 12th, and 18th months to detect the function of the neuromotor system and CP, with higher degrees of cerebral hemorrhage associated with a higher prevalence of neurodevelopmental defects.

Cerebral hemorrhage is considered a very important pathologic factor in preterm and low birth weight infants, which is associated with irreversible consequences of neurocognitive development.