Neonatal ventricular haemorrhage: treatment by puncture.

Transfontanellar ventricular puncture and intermittent lumbar punctures were carried out in 10 patients affected by intraventricular haemorrhage during the period between 1980 and 1983. In only three of them was later a shunt necessary for treatment of hydrocephalus. Six children developed normally, in two severe mental retardation ensued, and two died later, one of heart failure after cardiac surgery and one of ventriculitis following shunt implantation. Puncture therapy can be recommended for intraventricular haemorrhage of the neonate.