[The significance of determination of the serum levels of nitrites for assessing severity of perinatal ischemia and predicting the nervous and mental development of a child].

The results of clinical and biochemical studies of 93 full-term neonatal infants with perinatal hypoxia-induced ischemic nervous system lesion are presented. Perinatal ischemia in the newborns has been found to cause an increase in the serum content of nitric oxide, more significant and stable in severe encephalopathy. The level of nitric oxide remained significantly elevated in the natural development of the disease in children with persistent neurological symptoms; its normalization was observed by the third month of life when the clinical syndromes regressed. The authors proposed to use the blood level of nitric oxide as a marker of acute cerebral ischemia and as an additional criterion for predicting the nervous and mental development of children with prior neonatal ischemia.