Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Oct 16:6:290.
doi: 10.3389/fped.2018.00290. eCollection 2018.

Reducing Brain Injury of Preterm Infants in the Delivery Room

Francesca Viaroli  1   2 , Po-Yin Cheung  1   2 , Megan O'Reilly  1   2 , Graeme R Polglase  3 , Gerhard Pichler  4 , Georg M Schmölzer  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Reducing Brain Injury of Preterm Infants in the Delivery Room

Francesca Viaroli et al. Front Pediatr. .

Abstract

Cerebrovascular injury is one of the major detrimental consequences of preterm birth. Recent studies have focused their attention on factors that contribute to the development of brain lesions immediately after birth. Among those factors, hypothermia and lower cerebral oxygen saturation during delivery room resuscitation and high tidal volumes delivered during respiratory support are associated with increased risk of severe neurologic injury. In preterm infants, knowledge about causes and prevention of brain injury must be applied before and at birth. Preventive and therapeutic approaches, including correct timing of cord clamping, monitoring of physiological changes during delivery room resuscitation using pulse oximetry, respiratory function monitoring, near infrared spectroscopy, and alpha EEG, may minimize brain injury, Furthermore, postnatal administration of caffeine or other potential novel treatments (e.g., proangiogenic therapies, antioxidants, hormones, or stem cells) might improve long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm infants.

Keywords: brain injury; infants; intraventricular hemorrhage; neonatal resuscitation; newborn; very low birth weight infants.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Mian QN, Cheung P-Y, O'Reilly M, Barton SK, Polglase GR, Schmölzer GM. Impact of delivered tidal volume on the occurrence of intraventricular haemorrhage in preterm infants during positive pressure ventilation in the delivery room. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. (2018) fetalneonatal-2017-313864. 10.1136/archdischild-2017-313864 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barton SK, Tolcos M, Miller SL, Roehr CC, Schmölzer GM, Davis PG, et al. Unraveling the links between the initiation of ventilation and brain injury in preterm infants. Front Pediatr. (2015) 10:97 10.3389/fped.2015.00097 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barton SK, Tolcos M, Miller SL, Christoph-Roehr C, Schmölzer GM, Moss TJ, et al. . Ventilation-induced brain injury in preterm neonates: a review of potential therapies. Neonatology (2016) 110:155–62. 10.1159/000444918 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vesoulis ZA, Mathur AM. Cerebral autoregulation, brain injury, and the transitioning premature infant. Front Pediatr. (2017) 5:64. 10.3389/fped.2017.00064 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. March of Dimes PMNCH Save the Children WHO In: Howson CP, Kinney MV, Lawn JE, editors. Born Too Soon: The Global Action Report on Preterm Birth. Geneva: World Health Organization; (2012).

LinkOut - more resources