Resuscitation of the very immature infant: cerebral Doppler flow velocities in the first 20 minutes of life.
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.
Jorch
G
G
Department of Pediatrics, University of Münster, FRG.
Rabe
H
H
Michel
E
E
Engels
M
M
Schulz
V
V
Hentschel
R
R
Koch
H G
HG
Hultsch
E
E
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