The researchers are attempting to improve the cerebral monitoring of extremely low gestational age (ELGA) infants, such that in the future, real-time monitoring will be possible, to aid clinicians in management of these infants. The researchers wish to establish a new NIRS device, diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS), as a safe, noninvasive and informative bedside tool for assessing and monitoring brain health in ELGA infants during the first few days of life. It is hoped that this method will provide detailed information on changes in oxygen consumption and metabolism, and cerebral perfusion. This technique will have wide applicability, but for this research study, the researchers wish to focus on the effect of blood flow instabilities, intermittent hypotension and hypoxic episodes, pressure passive CBF periods, and hypoperfusion on the preterm brain during the first days of life, and the relationship with incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH). The researchers aim to recruit 100 premature infants to obtain data to: 1. Test the feasibility of NIRS-DCS to monitor cerebral activity, perfusion and oxygen consumption in extremely premature infants during the first week of life. 2. To assess if these baseline values are impacted by intermittent hypoxic episodes. 3. To assess if cerebral blood flow disturbances correlate with incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage. 4. Correlate the NIRS-DCS findings with clinical outcome at hospital discharge.
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Test the feasibility of DCS CBF continuous measures in ELGA newborn
Timeframe: 5 years