No abstract

Heart rate variation (HRV) was measured in 12 children with brain death. Computer analysis demonstrated an overall heart rate variation (RMSM) of 3.5 to 9.6 msec (mean, 6.0 msec). The respective figures for beat-to-beat variation (RMSSD) were 4 to 16 msec (mean, 7.7 msec). Normal infants (RMSM, 20 to 30 msec) and children (RMSM, 50 to 90 msec) and infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RMSM, 10 to 20 msec) have a clearly higher HRV than those with brain death. In all subjects a periodic component of the HRV with a cycle length of 5.9 ± 0.26 seconds was discovered. In five patients an additional periodic component was found that corresponded exactly to the rate of artificial respiration. This study demonstrated the value of accurate digital techniques in the characterization of fixed heart rate in decerebration. This phenomenon could be considered one clinical criterion of brain death.

No abstract

The neurological outcome of dissimilar twins was studied in 22 pairs of babies having a birth weight difference of 25% or more (mean 1748 vs. 2531 g). In weight, height and head circumference no statistically significant difference could be found at the study time (mean age of the children 9.4 years) between the groups. In gross motor performance and mean school age grades there were no differences but in fine motor performance-balance-coordination (P less than 0.02) and visuomotor perception (P less than 0.01) a statistically significant difference was found favouring the larger group. It is concluded that dissimilarity carries an increased risk for signs of minimal brain dysfunction in the smaller twins.