Cerebral hemodynamics in low-birth-weight infants treated with phototherapy

Changes of cerebral blood flow were determined in 20 preterm infants undergoing blue-light phototherapy for hyperbilirubinemia. All were healthy very-low-birth-weight infants (less than 1,500 g) with normal brain sonograms and not under pharmacological treatment at the time of the investigation. Blood flow velocity (pulsatility index and area under velocity curve) was measured by Duplex Scan technique during and after phototherapy. No changes of global cerebral blood flow were observed in the anterior cerebral artery (p less than 0.5). Our results suggest no functional disturbance of cerebral autoregulation in low-birth-weight infants treated with phototherapy.