European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Introduction: Perinatal asphyxia refers to a condition during the first and second stages of labour in which impaired gas exchange leads to fetal hypoxemia and hypercarbia which in turn can lead to cerebral edema and various circulatory disturbances. Aims: Role of cranial ultrasonography and colour doppler study of cerebral arteries in predicting neuromotor outcomes in newborns with perinatal asphyxia; A prospective/follow-up study. Material and methods: The study was conducted to assess the neuromotor outcomes in newborns with birth asphyxia by cranial ultrasonography and colour Doppler study of cerebral arteries. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 85 patients diagnosed with Birth asphyxia and complicated by hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) were selected for the study randomly from the SNCU & NICU, Department of Paediatrics, Murshidabad Medical College & Hospital, Murshidabad, West Bengal. Result: Majority of them (58, 68.2%) had poor outcome. Gross motor delay was most common complication (40, 47.1%), followed by Fine motor delay (26, 30.6%), Social delay (22, 25.9%), Language delay (18, 21.2%), Persistent seizure (18, 21.1%) and impaired vision and hearing (6, 7.1%). Some of them died (6, 7.1%) before the follow up. Conclusion: According to the present study, Transcranial ultrasonography and resistive index values of anterior and middle cerebral arteries showed high diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity in predicting neuromotor outcomes in term newborns with birth asphyxia.