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
. 2025 Jun 9;12(6):745.
doi: 10.3390/children12060745.

The Impact of Early Cranial Doppler Ultrasonography on Prognosis in Neonates with Perinatal Asphyxia

Leyla Sero  1 , Duygu Tuncel  2 , Mehmet Salih Karaca  3 , Nilufer Okur  2
Affiliations

The Impact of Early Cranial Doppler Ultrasonography on Prognosis in Neonates with Perinatal Asphyxia

Leyla Sero et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: Cranial Doppler ultrasonography (DS) is a non-invasive method for evaluating cerebral hemodynamics in neonates with perinatal asphyxia (PA). This study aimed to assess whether cerebral vascular resistance indices (RIs) measured within the first 24 h of life can predict the severity of brain injury.

Methods: DS was performed on the anterior cerebral artery (ACA) and middle cerebral artery (MCA) between 6 and 24 h after birth in newborns diagnosed with PA. Prognostic value was evaluated by comparing RI values with cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results.

Results: Of the 107 infants included in the study, 11 (10.3%) had severe brain damage, 27 (25.2%) had mild and 20 (18.7%) had moderate changes. The mean ACA RI was 0.61 ± 0.15 in the severe group and 0.70 ± 0.12 in the mild-moderate group (p = 0.023). MCA RI was 0.63 ± 0.20 and 0.71 ± 0.13, respectively. ROC analysis showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.901 for ACA RI with a cut-off of 0.58 (84% sensitivity and 84% specificity), and 0.874 for MCA RI with a cut-off of 0.59 (83% sensitivity and 84% specificity).

Conclusions: Early ACA and MCA RI measurements via Doppler ultrasonography may serve as valuable predictors of brain injury severity in neonates with PA and should be considered alongside other clinical and imaging findings.

Keywords: Doppler USG; neonatal; perinatal asphyxia; resistive index.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
ROC analysis of ACA RI and MCA RI.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lee A.C., Kozuki N., Blencowe H., Vos T., Bahalim A., Darmstadt G.L., Niermeyer S., Ellis M., Robertson N.J., Cousens S., et al. Intrapartum-related neonatal encephalopathy incidence and impairment at regional and global levels for 2010 with trends from 1990. Pediatr. Res. 2013;74((Suppl. S1)):50–72. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jacobs S.E., Berg M., Hunt R., Tarnow-Mordi W.O., Inder T.E., Davis P.G. Cooling for newborns with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 2013;2013:CD003311. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD003311.pub3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Polderman K.H. Induced hypothermia and fever control for prevention and treatment of neurological injuries. Lancet. 2008;371:1955–1969. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60837-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Akisu M., Kumral A., Canpolat F.E. Turkish Neonatal Society Guideline on neonatal encephalopathy. Turk. Pediatr. Ars. 2018;53((Suppl. S1)):S32–S44. doi: 10.5152/TurkPediatriArs.2018.01805. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Greisen G. Autoregulation of cerebral blood flow in newborn babies. Early Hum. Dev. 2005;81:423–428. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2005.03.005. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources