On Retinal Pictures of Newborn Infant with Especial Reference to Hemorrhage

The authors have examined the ocular fundus of newborn infants (130 cases in total) born at full term in the Obstetrical Department of Okayama University Hospital, by the use of virtual image method, and obtained the following results. Retinal hemorrhages were found in 30 out of 130 cases (23.1%) and showed a tendency to increase in number in the cases with complications on delivery. It has been thought that the hemorrhage was caused mainly by the congestion and elevation of the intracracranial pressure. The incidence was also higher in toxemias of pregnancy and was 41.7% in the cases born with asphyxia. In general, the retina was bright and appeared more or less pinkish in color in large number of cases. The margins of papillary discs blurred in 37 cases (28.5%), in which the retinal hemorrhages were greater in number than the average. There were found 16 cases of the coni and one case of pigroid fundus.