Abstract
The combined monitoring of oxygen supply and delivery using Near-InfraRed spectroscopy (NIRS) and cerebral activity using amplitude-integrated EEG (aEEG) could yield new insights into brain metabolism and detect potentially vulnerable conditions soon after birth. The relationship between NIRS and quantitative aEEG/EEG parameters has not yet been investigated. Our aim was to study the association between oxygen utilization during the first 6 h after birth and simultaneously continuously monitored brain activity measured by aEEG/EEG. Forty-four hemodynamically stable babies with a GA < 28 weeks, with good quality NIRS and aEEG/EEG data available and who did not receive morphine were included in the study. aEEG and NIRS monitoring started at NICU admission. The relation between regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rScO2) and cerebral fractional tissue oxygen extraction (cFTOE), and quantitative measurements of brain activity such as number of spontaneous activity transients (SAT) per minute (SAT rate), the interval in seconds (i.e. time) between SATs (ISI) and the minimum amplitude of the EEG in μV (min aEEG) were evaluated. rScO2 was negatively associated with SAT rate (β=-3.45 [CI=-5.76- -1.15], p=0.004) and positively associated with ISI (β=1.45 [CI=0.44-2.45], p=0.006). cFTOE was positively associated with SAT rate (β=0.034 [CI=0.009-0.059], p=0.008) and negatively associated with ISI (β=-0.015 [CI=-0.026- -0.004], p=0.007). Oxygen delivery and utilization, as indicated by rScO2 and cFTOE, are directly related to functional brain activity, expressed by SAT rate and ISI during the first hours after birth, showing an increase in oxygen extraction in preterm infants with increased early electro-cerebral activity. NIRS monitored oxygenation may be a useful biomarker of brain vulnerability in high-risk infants.
Highlights
Neuro-monitoring tools such as Near-InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS) and amplitude integrated EEG are becoming part of daily clinical care in many neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) [1]
Our aim was to study the association between oxygen utilization during the first 6 h after birth and simultaneously continuously monitored brain activity measured by amplitude integrated EEG (aEEG)/EEG
When combined with arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2), the cerebral fractional tissue oxygen extraction can be calculated ([SpO2-rScO2]/SpO2), which can be used as an estimator of oxygen utilization of the brain [2,3]
Summary
Neuro-monitoring tools such as Near-InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS) and amplitude integrated EEG (aEEG) are becoming part of daily clinical care in many neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) [1]. Quantitative approaches for digital aEEG and raw EEG signals have been introduced [5] These approaches classify spikes in cerebral activity as bursts or the equivalent spontaneous activity transients (SATs), which are likely to be crucial for brain development [6,7]. Studies in humans have already shown that both the SAT rate and ISI, and quantitative aEEG parameters give valuable information about brain function of preterm infants during early phases of neonatal intensive care [8, 9, 10, 11, 12] Especially these aEEG variables have been shown to be associated with brain growth and development, and with neurodevelopmental outcome [5, 8,9,10, 13]. The aim of the current study was to compare the pattern of oxygen delivery and utilization, as determined by NIRS, to the simultaneously acquired quantification of the cross-cerebral digital aEEG/EEG signal during the first 6 h after birth
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