Surfactant Administration and the Cerebral Circulation

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
We have used two main techniques to investigate the effect of surfactant therapy on the cerebral circulation in 34 babies. Twenty-one babies were studied using near infrared spectroscopy and 13 had cerebral blood flow measured using a xenon clearance technique. Other measures recorded included amplitude integrated EEG, mean arterial blood pressure and central venous or oesophageal pressure. There was a marked depression in EEG activity lasting for 10–20 min after surfactant administration. Cerebral blood volume and cerebral blood flow were maintained in most infants in spite of a fall in mean arterial blood pressure. We conclude that factors other than cerebral ischaemia cause the transient disturbance in electrophysiologic activity.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: