A new study by researchers at the Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta has suggested that babies requiring drainage of brain fluid to prevent build up of cranial pressure face a poor prognosis. The team said that cognitive impairment was a real danger in such babies.
The study involved 6161 infants born weighing 401 to 1000 grams. It may be noted here that infants having very low birth weight are more prone to develop a condition called hydrocephalus, which is also called as water in the brain.In this study some 13 percent of the infants developed the condition and 3 percent had a shunt inserted for drainage. The researchers report that infants who needed a shunt had significantly lower scores on a standard infant development index. This was as compared with children who had no shunt inserted.
Some 86 percent of children who had shunts showed impaired neurological development during the follow-up period of 18 to 22 months.
The details of the study appear in the medical journal Pediatrics.
Source-Medindia
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