BALTIMORE, Oct 25, 2004 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Johns Hopkins medical researchers, in a report published Monday, say brain injury in premature infants is due more to infection than lack of oxygen.

"To reduce the risk of brain injury in the premature neonate, physicians may have to pay more attention to infections that occur around the time of birth," said high-risk obstetrician Dr. Ernest Graham, an assistant professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and lead author of the study.

The most common form of injury to the premature brain white matter, known as periventricular leukomalacia, is a condition in which small, cyst-like regions of brain tissue die.

Researchers reviewed the records of 150 cases of white matter injury in premature infants born at Hopkins from 1994 to 2001. Rates of PVL were assessed by ultrasound recordings taken at three different times after birth.

The most striking results came from bacterial cultures of samples from the premature infants' cerebrospinal fluid, blood and trachea. Researchers found a two- to four fold increase in the rates of PVL among those premature infants with an infection confirmed by culture samples.

The study was published Monday in the online American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

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