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Immature brain structures of very premature infants determine the features of the echographic picture at birth, as well as in the neoand postneonatal period. The article presents an analysis of the results of ultrasound studies of the brain (from birth to 18 months of corrected age) in comparison with the clinical and laboratory data of 489 very premature infants born with very low and extremely low body weight. The comparison of neurosonographic data and the results of clinical examination indicate that the echographic picture of the brain structures of very premature infants may differ from that of the mature infants and it does not require medical correction in the absence of neurological manifestations. The most characteristic echographic features in the first years of life are moderate dilatation of the intrathecal spaces, lateral ventricles and cisterns of the brain. Intraventricular hemorrhages in deeply premature infants occur with a high frequency, while degree III intraventricular hemorrhages, as well as periventricular and diffuse leukomalacia, are prognostically unfavorable factors leading to the development of severe neurological defects.

The purpose of the study is to analyze the history and structure of the pathology of premature infants with extremely low body weight and very low body weight under dynamic follow up in the monitoring department for children of the perinatal risk group. Using the method of continuous sampling we analyzed observation maps of 95 premature infants with extremely low body weight and very low body weight of gestation age from 24 to 36 weeks.All newborns have a low Apgar score at birth and at the 5th minute, and Apgar score was lower in children with extremely low body weight as compared with children with very low body weight. All children had congenital anomalies of the organs and systems, marked signs of immaturity, with prevailing changes in the cardiovascular system, passability of the renal pelvis, and congenital deformity of thigh.Among the conditions that occurred in the perinatal period, the authors diagnosed intraventricular hemorrhage in 50.5% of patients, 89.6% of them had hemorrhage of grade II – III, all children had respiratory distress syndrome. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia was diagnosed in 60% of premature infants, its moderate and severe forms in 1/3 of the patients. All children had anemia, and 13.7% of children had a neonatal syndrome from mothers with diabetes mellitus. 1/3 of premature infants had retinopathy; its frequency did not depend on the body weight at birth. All children had a combination of pathologies. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia was combined with respiratory distress syndrome and anemia in 100% of children. The combination of bronchopulmonary dysplasia with intraventricular hemorrhage was more often recorded in patients with extremely low body weight than in patients with very low body weight.

Nursing outcomes were evaluated in 110 extremely low birth weight infants to study the characteristics of a maternal reproductive history, the conditions of fetal development, and their early neonatal period. The babies from women with a history of miscarriage were significantly frequently recorded to have severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia, generalized pyoseptic diseases, CNS lesions as grades II—III intraventricular bleeding.