Cerebral blood flow monitoring using a novel laser Doppler flowmeter in asphyxiated infants.

Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of early changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) predicting the severity of neurological outcome in asphyxiated infants.

Method: Serial monitoring of CBF was performed using a newly developed laser Doppler flowmeter (LDF) in parallel with conventional hemodynamic monitoring, such as mean arterial blood pressure (mABP) or heart rate (HR) in 11 asphyxiated infants (five infants with neurological sequelae and six infants without sequelae) during the first 4 days of life. Psychomotor development was followed up to 20 months.