Cerebral Tissue Oxygen Saturation Measurements in Perinatal Asphyxia Cases Treated with Therapeutic Hypothermia.

Cerebral tissue oxygen saturation (CrSO) measured with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology has recently become the subject of several research studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of CrSO measurements in perinatal asphyxia (PA) cases. The study included a patient group of 42 PA cases, who were to be applied with therapeutic hypothermia (TH), and a control group of 42 healthy term newborns. PA cases were determined as moderate or severe encephalopathy (Sarnat score stage II or III) in clinical evaluation. In both groups, left (CrSOL) and right (CrSOR) NIRS measurements were taken for 10 minutes on the scalp. The arithmetic mean value of measurements was calculated and compared. The mean measurements were CrSOR 67.38 ± 9.39 and CrSOL 66.73 ± 7.76 in the patient group, and CrSOR 80.28 ± 8.04 and CrSOL 79.14 ± 8.49 in the control group. The mean CrSOR and CrSOL measurements of the patient group were statistically significantly lower than those of the control group ( < 0.001). In the Pearson correlation analysis, a significant correlation was determined in the patient group between cord blood gas pH and CrSOR (: 0.539,  < 0.001) and CrSOL (: 0.54,  < 0.001). For a cutoff value of CrSOL ≤ 72%, the positive predictive value was 80 and the negative predictive value was 84.6. For a cutoff value of CrSOR ≤ 74%, the positive predictive value was 79.5 and the negative predictive value was 82.5. Low CrSO measurements obtained with the NIRS method in PA cases to be applied with TH together with cord blood gas parameters can be considered a helpful parameter in diagnosis.