• Gerhard Pichler, Po-Yin Cheung, Khalid Aziz, Berndt Urlesberger, and Georg M Schmölzer.
• Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta., Canada.
• Neonatology. 2014 Jan 1;105(3):205-10.

BackgroundThe brain is vulnerable to injury and dysfunction during transition after birth in neonates. Clinical assessment of the neurological status immediately following birth is difficult, especially during resuscitation.ObjectiveOur aim was to review physiological monitoring of the brain during immediate postnatal transition - the first 15 min after birth.MethodsA systematic search of PubMed and EMBASE was performed using the following terms: newborn, neonate, neonates, transition, after-birth, delivery room, cerebral, brain, monitoring, neurology, oxygenation, saturation, activity, imaging, perfusion, Doppler, and blood flow. Additional articles were identified by manual search of cited references. Only human studies describing cerebral changes during the first 15 min after birth were included.ResultsSix studies were identified, which described sequential measurements of cerebral perfusion using Doppler sonography, one of these in combination with continuous monitoring of cerebral tissue oxygenation with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). A further 15 studies were identified that used NIRS to continuously monitor cerebral tissue oxygenation. In one study, cerebral activity was continuously monitored with an additional amplitude-integrated encephalogram.ConclusionMonitoring the brain provides additional information during immediate transition and may help to guide resuscitation. Doppler sonography is technically challenging during resuscitation and is therefore of limited value. NIRS provides continuous monitoring and is feasible even in very-low-birth-weight infants. In the future, an amplitude-integrated encephalogram might give further information on the status of the brain, but before any of these modalities can routinely be recommended during neonatal resuscitation, clinical trials targeting stable brain function parameters are needed.© 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

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