Intraventricular Hemorrhage

Intraventricular Hemorrhage

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Treatment

Other than taking measures to prevent that a baby is born prematurely and treating additional health problems that may worsen a baby's condition and predispose him or her to intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), there is no specific treatment for the condition. Giving mothers medications, called corticosteroids, before delivery has been shown to reduce the risk of IVH in babies.

If the IVH is severe enough so that the ventricles in the brain enlarge and put the surrounding brain at risk for damage, a shunt may be required to drain the excess fluid that has built up in the ventricles. A shunt is placed by a surgical procedure. It drains the excess fluid from the ventricles in the brain under the skin to the abdomen.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated May 8, 2007