title: Resuscitation of the very immature infant: cerebral Doppler flow velocities in the first 20 minutes of life.
abstract: Blood flow velocity of the anterior cerebral artery was investigated by Doppler ultrasonography in five time intervals up to 20 min after birth in 16 non-asphyxiated very immature infants (median birth weight 1,058 g, range 720-1,930 g; median gestational age 30 weeks, range 27-32 weeks) delivered by caesarean section and intubated after birth. Heart frequency, oscillometric mean arterial blood pressure and blood gases were recorded as well. There was a transitory increase in both systolic and end-diastolic velocities (from 29 to 35 and from 1 to 10 cm/s) during the first 5 min after birth which occurred together with an increase in heart frequency. The overall incidence of intracranial haemorrhage was low (3/16, 19%). This observation study shows a transitory increase in cerebral blood flow velocity with a peak at about 5 min after birth in preterm infants < 33 weeks of gestation undergoing standard resuscitation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Münster, FRG.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jorch
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rabe
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Michel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Engels
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hentschel
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hultsch
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology; D002585:Cesarean Section; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D013997:Time Factors; D014463:Ultrasonography