CHARACTERISTICS OF STRUCTURAL CHANGES OF THE BRAIN IN PREMATURE CHILDREN WITH PRE- AND PERINATAL DAMAGE OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

Objective: to establish specific characteristics of structural changes in the brain in premature infants with pre- and perinatal damage to the nervous system. Material and methods: We examined 146 preterm infants of the first year of life: the main group included 102 children who were diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of 12 months; and the comparison group included 44 children with a favorable outcome. Results: The structural pathology was revealed in 100% of cases in the patients of the main group by neuroimaging with cystic-atrophic changes in the brain substance (p=0.001) ranking first. The number of cases of gliosis in the brain substance was increasing gradually in infants of the main group during the first year of life. Congenital malformations of the brain were found 5.5 times more often in infants of the main group than in those of the comparison group (p=0.001). The internal hydrocephalus (p=0.005) and ventriculomegaly (p=0.001) were characteristic of the patients with cerebral palsy in contrast to the comparison group. Conclusions: In premature infants with a favorable neuropsychiatric outcome, the structural pathology of the brain decreased by 12 times at the age of 12 months relative to the age of 3 months.