Cerebral Oxygen Monitoring in Extremely Low-Birth-Weight Infants Using Time-Domain Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Transmittance Mode.

Abstract

Recent advances in neonatal intensive care have improved the survival rates of extremely low-birth-weight infants (ELBWIs). However, there has been no obvious improvement in the proportion of survivors without sequelae. Therefore, the development of appropriate management methods for ELBWIs in the neonatal intensive care unit is important to improve outcomes. In this study, we utilised time-domain near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-NIRS) for deep brain monitoring in premature infants in the clinical setting and measured the heads of three ELBWIs once weekly using a TD-NIRS system in transmittance mode. We found that optical signals transmitted through the head were detectable in all ELBWIs. We also confirmed that the total haemoglobin concentration and tissue oxygen saturation decreased in the first month after birth, while the reduced scattering coefficient was not correlated with postmenstrual age. We anticipate that this TD-NIRS technique will be useful for clinical assessment of deep brain tissues for appropriate management of cerebral circulation of ELBWIs in the neonatal intensive care unit.