EFFECTS OF CHORIOAMNIONITIS ON BRAIN DAMAGE IN PRETERM INFANTS OF SMALL GES- TATIONAL AGE

LI QIN¹, YAN XI², MAILING ZHOU³

¹Department of Obstetrics, Shaanxi Provincial People’s Hospital, Xi'an city 710068, China - ²Department of Obstetrics, Shaanxi Provincial Weinan Maternal and Chila Health Hospital, Weinan city 714000, China - ³Department of Operating, Shaanxi Provincial Weinan Maternal and Chila Health Hospital, Weinan city 714000, China

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the effects of chorioamnionitis on brain damage (including periventricular leukomalacia and intraventricular hemorrhage) in preterm infants of small gestational age.

Methods: A total of 88 preterm infants born at a small gestational week (28 weeks to 34 weeks) in a hospital between June 2008 and October 2010 are selected as subjects, which are divided into the group with chorioamnionitis (41 cases) and group without cho- rioamnionitis (47 cases) based on whether their mothers have or do not have chorioamnionitis. The incidence of periventricular leuko- malacia and intraventricular hemorrhage are observed and compared between the two groups.

Results: The incidence of periventricular leukomalacia is 31.7% in the group with chorioamnionitis of preterm infants, while 6.4% in group without chorioamnionitis of preterm infants. There is a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05). The incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage is 26.8% and 23.4% in the two groups, respectively, and there is no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05).

Conclusions: Chorioamnionitis can increase the incidence of paraventricular leukomalacia in preterm infants but has little effect on intraventricular hemorrhage.