HCRN Investigator, Jay Riva-Cambrin, has just published an exciting Network article on premature children with intraventricular hemorrhage. The goal of the research was to understand the decision making process for treating IVH. Specifically, we wanted to know what factors went into the decision to implant a reservoir or to do a subgaleal shunt in these children. The details of treatment for 110 children were analyzed. The strongest predictor of surgical treatment for these children was center. This means that from one center to another, things are done a little bit differently and that has the biggest impact on the surgical decision process. The ventricle size and the presence of bradycardia also had some effect on the decision to treat these children. These findings support the current HCRN protocol, which has standardized criteria for making these decisions across Network centers. Interestingly, the length of stay varied quite significantly between the centers, as did the use of brain imaging in their care. Overall, the study demonstrates the need for collaborative work and standardized decision making, which is currently being studied in the Network.

The Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics is kind enough to provide our readers with a link to the full article here: http://thejns.org/doi/full/10.3171/2012.1.PEDS11292