Proceedings of the 14th International Newborn Brain Conference: Neuro-imaging studies

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cardiorespiratory deterioration is common in very low birth weight (<1500g) infants. This period of critical brain growth and development may be impacted by insults such as sepsis and hypoxia. The physiological response to illness manifests through autonomic signaling and is detected as changes in heart rate (HR) and oxygenation (SpO 2 ). We hypothesized that limited autonomic activity and reactivity may indicate poor cardiovascular autoregulation, increasing the risk of cerebral hypoxic-ischemia, the fundamental basis for