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Cerebral Blood Flow Reactivity in Spontaneously Breathing, Preterm Infants Shortly after Birth
Author(s) -
PRYDS O.,
ANDERSEN G. E.,
FRIISHANSEN B.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1990.tb11482.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cerebral blood flow , gestational age , anesthesia , blood pressure , hypercapnia , oxygen tension , fraction of inspired oxygen , breathing , pco2 , cardiology , respiratory system , pregnancy , oxygen , mechanical ventilation , chemistry , organic chemistry , biology , genetics
. In 18 spontaneously breathing, preterm infants (mean gestational age 30.3 weeks) cerebral blood flow (CBF) was investigated twice, 2 and 3 hours after birth when spontaneous changes in arterial carbon dioxide tension (P a CO 2 ) and mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) were expected. Transcutaneous oxygen tension (TcO 2 ) was kept normal by adjusting the inspiratory oxygen fraction. In 12 infants, plasma adrenaline and noradrenaline were constant throughout the study. Changes in CBF infinity (CBF ∞ ) were significantly related to changes in P a CO 2 (p=0.0001) whereas neither changes in MABP nor TcO 2 reached a significant association to changes in CBF (p=0.67 and p=1.0, respectively). The calculated CBF‐CO 2 reactivity of 28.9% per kPa P a CO 2 (95% confidence interval 16.1–43.0) is comparable to findings in older newborns and healthy adults. Only one of 18 infants developed germinal layer haemorrhage (grade I) in spite of the hypercapnic state which was observed during the first hours of life. Periventricular leucomalacia was not detected. It is suggested that the cerebral blood flow is well regulated within physiological variations of P a CO 2 and MABP in the healthy, preterm newborn even shortly after birth.