Brain injury and development in newborns with critical congenital heart disease.
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ABSTRACT: Objective
To determine the relationship between radiologically identifiable brain injuries and delayed brain development as reflected by brain metabolic and microstructural integrity.Methods
Term newborns with congenital heart disease (CHD) (120 preoperatively and 104 postoperatively) were studied with MRI to determine brain injury severity (BIS), microstructure reflected by fractional anisotropy (FA) and average diffusivity (Dav), and metabolism reflected by N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/choline (Cho) and lactate/Cho. Brain development is characterized by increasing NAA/Cho and white matter FA, and by decreasing Dav and lactate/Cho.Results
Newly acquired brain injury was common (41% preoperative, 30% postoperative). Lower white matter FA (p = 0.005) and lower NAA/Cho (p = 0.01) were associated with increasing preoperative BIS. Higher neonatal illness severity scores (p = 0.03), lower preoperative oxygen saturation (p = 0.002), hypotension (p < 0.001), and septostomy (p = 0.002) were also predictive of higher preoperative BIS. Preoperative FA, Dav, and NAA/Cho did not predict new postoperative BIS. Increasing preoperative BIS predicted higher postoperative Dav (p = 0.002) and lactate/Cho (p = 0.008). Within the postoperative scan, new brain injuries were associated with lower white matter FA (p = 0.04). Postoperative BIS (new lesions) was associated with lower postoperative systolic (p = 0.03) and mean (p = 0.05) blood pressures.Conclusions
Brain injuries in newborns with CHD are strongly related to abnormalities of brain microstructural and metabolic brain development, especially preoperatively. Both newly acquired preoperative and postoperative brain injuries are related to potentially modifiable clinical risk factors.
SUBMITTER: Dimitropoulos A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3770166 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:OBJECTIVE:To describe the distribution of perfusion index (PI) in asymptomatic newborns at 24?hours of life when screening for critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) using an automated data selection method. DESIGN:This is a retrospective observational study. SETTING:Newborn nursery in a California public hospital with ~3500 deliveries annually. METHODS:We developed an automated programme to select the PI values from CCHD screens. Included were term and late preterm infants who were screened for CCHD from November 2013 to January 2014 and from May 2015 to July 2015. PI measurements were downloaded every 2?s from the pulse oximeter and median PI were calculated for each oxygen saturation screen in our cohort. RESULTS:We included data from 2768 oxygen saturation screens. Each screen had a median of 29 data points (IQR 17 to 49). The median PI in our study cohort was 1.8 (95% CI 1.8 to 1.9) with IQR 1.2 to 2.7. The median preductal PI was significantly higher than the median postductal (1.9 vs 1.8, p=0.03) although this difference may not be clinically significant. CONCLUSION:Using an automated data selection method, the median PI in asymptomatic newborns at 24?hours of life is 1.8 with a narrow IQR of 1.2 to 2.7. This automated data selection method may improve accuracy and precision compared with manual data collection method. Further studies are needed to establish external validity of this automated data selection method and its clinical application for CCHD screening.
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Project description:BACKGROUND:Brain injury (BI) is reported in 60% of newborns with critical congenital heart disease as white matter injury (WMI) or stroke. Neurodevelopmental (ND) impairments are reported in these patients. The relationship between neonatal BI and ND outcome has not been established. OBJECTIVES:This study sought to determine the association between peri-operative BI and ND outcomes in infants with single ventricle physiology (SVP) and d-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA). METHODS:Term newborns with d-TGA and SVP had pre-operative and post-operative brain magnetic resonance imaging and ND outcomes assessed at 12 and 30 months with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II. BI was categorized by the brain injury severity score and WMI was quantified by volumetric analysis. RESULTS:A total of 104 infants had follow-up at 12 months and 70 had follow-up at 30 months. At 12 months, only clinical variables were associated with ND outcome. At 30 months, subjects with moderate-to-severe WMI had significantly lower Psychomotor Development Index (PDI) scores (13 points lower) as compared with those with none or minimal WMI for d-TGA and SVP (p = 0.03 and p = 0.05, respectively) after adjusting for various factors. Quantitative WMI volume was likewise associated. Stroke was not associated with outcome. The Bland-Altman limits of agreement for PDI scores at 12 and 30 months were wide (-40.3 to 31.2) across the range of mean PDI values. CONCLUSIONS:Increasing burden of WMI is associated with worse motor outcomes at 30 months for infants with critical congenital heart disease, whereas no adverse association was seen between small strokes and outcome. These results support the utility of neonatal brain magnetic resonance imaging in this population to aid in predicting later outcomes and the importance of ND follow-up beyond 1 year of age.
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Project description:Introduction The purpose of this article is to present the collective experiences of six federally-funded critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) newborn screening implementation projects to assist federal and state policy makers and public health to implement CCHD screening. Methods A qualitative assessment and summary from six demonstration project grantees and other state representatives involved in the implementation of CCHD screening programs are presented in the following areas: legislation, provider and family education, screening algorithms and interpretation, data collection and quality improvement, telemedicine, home and rural births, and neonatal intensive care unit populations. Results The most common challenges to implementation include: lack of uniform legislative and statutory mandates for screening programs, lack of funding/resources, difficulty in screening algorithm interpretation, limited availability of pediatric echocardiography, and integrating data collection and reporting with existing newborn screening systems. Identified solutions include: programs should consider integrating third party insurers and other partners early in the legislative/statutory process; development of visual tools and language modification to assist in the interpretation of algorithms, training programs for adult sonographers to perform neonatal echocardiography, building upon existing newborn screening systems, and using automated data transfer mechanisms. Discussion Continued and expanded surveillance, research, prevention and education efforts are needed to inform screening programs, with an aim to reduce morbidity, mortality and other adverse consequences for individuals and families affected by CCHD.
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