Near-infrared spectroscopy in asphyxial brain injury.

Near-infrared spectroscopy is capable of providing noninvasive quantification of several important indices of cerebral hemodynamics, including cerebral blood flow, cerebral blood volume, and its response to changing arterial carbon dioxide tension. Preliminary results in term infants following acute perinatal asphyxia suggest that cerebral blood flow and volume are elevated, and the normal control mechanisms are abolished. These hemodynamic disturbances occur prior to the later development of secondary energy failure with its poor prognosis and may allow valuable prognostic information to be obtained in the first hours after birth.