Ultrafast Doppler As a Novel Bedside Measure of Cerebral Perfusion in Preterm Infants

Premature birth is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. One potential contributing factor is systemic hypotension resulting in impairment of cerebral perfusion. The management of systemic hypotension in premature infants is variable, as there are currently no adequate clinical methods of determining when perfusion begins to be compromised in this population. We hypothesized that plane-wave fast Doppler imaging could be a reproducible bedside method to measure cerebral blood flow velocity at the tissue level in preterm infants. By correlating those values to systemic blood pressure, we hoped to better define the autoregulation that takes place within the small vessels of the brain. This IRB-approved pilot study enrolled neonates between 26 and 32 weeks gestation. Exclusion criteria were intrauterine growth restriction, life-threatening congenital malformation or central nervous system anomaly, and non-English speaking families.