PVL diagnosis..

I have been reading and reading on here about PVL. My daughter was born June 21st via urgent c-section due to being under stress. Upon her first breath she swallowed marconium (sp?) so she basically was suffocating. They got the junk out of her lungs but she did have a lack of oxygen. Her apagar scores were very low 1-6- & I don't remember the rest. The Dr.'s decided to do cooling therapy, I'm sorry I can't find the text book name for it right now. This is suppose to slow down any brain damage, she was on the cooling blanket for 72 hours after birth, she barely qualified for the treatment, but now I'm glad they did it.  After the MRI it showed that she does have PVL and there was some bleeding though it was on the higher side of mild, and the Dr. focused a lot of cerebral palsy most likely in the legs being a possible out come.  However it's a wait and see game. We are signed up for Early Intervention, and also see a Physical Therapist. The PT thought she noticed a slightly increased muscle tone in her legs but she said it was very mild. I know my sister in law, due to having premies, was told my niece would never walk and now she is 9 years old and just fine. She had PVL and two brain bleeds.

So what I'm having trouble finding is statistically what are the chances of my daughter actually developing some form of CP?   I'm not finding anything on web about PVL not developing CP, and also not a lot about the cooling therapy, which is suppose to cut the risk in half. Any info would be very helpful. Every day I am completely freaked out by everything. I don't know how much longer I can do this, and she is only a month old!!

[Dr San Miguel]

Hi. Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL) is one of the leading causes of cerebral palsy in children. A study by Dr Oshea and his colleagues show that infants with PVL who weighed 501-800 grams at birth had a 7 to 20% incidence of cerebral palsy. However, the variation in outcomes may be attributed to the variation in location, size and extent of PVL. Unfortunately, there is no specific treatment for PVL. Current research focuses on identifying risk factors and preventing PVL. For further queries, consult your doctor. Hope this helps.