There are no publications reporting on scan duration and Doppler use during neonatal cranial ultrasound scans. We investigated current practice of neonatal cranial ultrasound at four large tertiary neonatal intensive care units in Australia. Cranial scans were prospectively recorded between March 2015 and November 2016. Variables, including total number of scans, scan duration and frequency and duration of colour and spectral Doppler mode, were extracted. A total of 196 scans formed the final cohort. The median (range) number of scans for each neonate was 1 (1–12). The median (range) overall total scan duration was 309 (119–801) s. Colour mode with or without spectral Doppler mode was used in approximately half of the cohort (106/196, 54%). Our findings comport with our hypotheses. Operators performing neonatal cranial scans in Australia have low overall scan durations. Although the use of Doppler mode during neonatal cranial scans is not standard practice in all neonatal intensive care units, it is used widely irrespective of the degree of prematurity or the presence of brain pathology. Further efforts are required to incorporate recommendations on scan duration and the routine use of Doppler mode during neonatal cranial scans. This is especially imperative given that the most vulnerable neonates with the greater neural tissue sensitivity are likely to be scanned more often.

没有出版物报告新生儿颅脑超声扫描期间的扫描持续时间和多普勒使用情况。我们调查了澳大利亚四家大型三级新生儿重症监护病房的新生儿颅脑超声检查的当前做法。在 2015 年 3 月至 2016 年 11 月期间前瞻性地记录了颅骨扫描。提取了变量，包括扫描总数、扫描持续时间和频率以及彩色和光谱多普勒模式的持续时间。总共 196 次扫描形成了最终队列。每个新生儿的中位（范围）扫描次数为 1 (1-12)。总扫描持续时间的中位数（范围）为 309 (119–801) s。大约一半的队列 (106/196, 54%) 使用了带或不带光谱多普勒模式的彩色模式。我们的发现符合我们的假设。在澳大利亚进行新生儿颅脑扫描的操作者的总体扫描持续时间较短。尽管在新生儿颅脑扫描期间使用多普勒模式并不是所有新生儿重症监护病房的标准做法，但无论早产程度或是否存在脑部病变，它都被广泛使用。需要进一步努力纳入有关扫描持续时间和新生儿颅脑扫描期间常规使用多普勒模式的建议。鉴于具有较高神经组织敏感性的最脆弱新生儿可能会更频繁地进行扫描，因此这一点尤为重要。需要进一步努力纳入有关扫描持续时间和新生儿颅脑扫描期间常规使用多普勒模式的建议。鉴于具有更高神经组织敏感性的最脆弱新生儿可能会更频繁地进行扫描，因此这一点尤为重要。需要进一步努力纳入有关扫描持续时间和新生儿颅脑扫描期间常规使用多普勒模式的建议。鉴于具有较高神经组织敏感性的最脆弱新生儿可能会更频繁地进行扫描，因此这一点尤为重要。