Sonographic Diagnosis of Fetal Intraventricular Hemorrhage: Report of Three Cases and Review of the Literature

The aim was to describe our experience in three cases of fetal intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) diagnosed prenatally. This was a retrospective and descriptive study between 2007 and 2010 that included analysis on three cases of ICH from our prenatal care based on information in the records (medical history and imaging studies). One fetus died in utero at 35 weeks of pregnancy and had ICH classified as grade IV. In another case, birth occurred prematurely, at 28 weeks; this newborn died 36 hours after birth and was also classified as ICH grade IV. The third case was born at term, but transfontanellar ultrasound showed a serious cerebral lesion compatible with encephalomalacia. The cases of ICH diagnosed prenatally had poor prognosis due to serious cerebral lesions. Diagnosing ICH prenatally is important for counseling the parents about the poor neonatal prognosis. The short-term postnatal outcome in cases of ICH is usually poor for fetuses with high-grade and/or progressive lesions.