From my inbox
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Some stats on very low birth weight infants (500-1500 gms) which is where 22 weekers would fall. These are taken from Minneapolis Children's Hospital and Clinics 2002 VLBW statistics report.
Occurence of complications are as follows:
Periventricular Leukomalacia: 3% (this is what leads to cerebral palsy)
Chronic Lung disease 26%
Necrotizing Entercolitis 5%
Intraventricular Hemmorhage (IVH) 25%
Severe IVH 7-10%
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) 31-42%
Severe ROP 10%
Survival WITHOUT morbidity ` 49%
At 4 years of age former 23 weekers have a 36% chance of having normal neurodevelopmental outcomes, 13% have mildly abnormal outcomes and 51% have severely abnormal outcomes (n=53)
I would refer you to an article entititled Survival and Long Term Neurodevelopmental Outcomes of Extrememly Premature infant Born at 23-26 weeks Gestational Age at a Tertiary Center by Ronald Hoekstra, Bruce Ferrrara, Robert Couser, Nathaniel Payne, and John Connett, The article appeared in Pediatrics Vol 113 January 2004
