Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 25, 2026

Non-invasive Optical Measurement of Cerebral Metabolism and Hemodynamics in Infants
Published on: March 14, 2013
NIRS study of cerebral oxygenation and hemodynamics in neonate at birth
Xinlin Hou1, Haiyan Ding, Yichao Teng
1Department of Pediatrics, First Hospital of Beijing University, Beijing 100034, China. houxinlin@gmail.com
To study the changes of cerebral oxygenation and hemodynamics in normal neonates at 2-5 min post-birth and understand the effects of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) upon cerebral oxygenation and hemodynamics in newborn neonates. The near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was employed to measure the absolute quantity of brain tissue oxygen saturation (rSO2) in newborn neonates and the changes of concentrations of deoxyhemoglobin (Hb) and oxygenation hemoglobin (HbO2) with time relative to initial values to further obtain the changes of total hemoglobin (tHb) and cerebral perfusion (denoted by HbD). In normal neonates at 2-5 min post-birth, rSO2 increased while tHb remained relatively stable and HbD increased. In neonates born of PIH mothers at 3-5 min post-birth, the changes of tHb were markedly higher than those in the normal infants, p<0.05; at 2-5 min post-birth, the changes were markedly lower than the normal term infants. We concluded that NIRS can detect the changes of cerebral oxygenation and blood flow in a non-invasive and effective way.
To study the changes of cerebral oxygenation and hemodynamics in normal neonates at 2-5 min post-birth and understand the effects of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) upon cerebral oxygenation and hemodynamics in newborn neonates. The near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was employed to measure the absolute quantity of brain tissue oxygen saturation (rSO2) in newborn neonates and the changes of concentrations of deoxyhemoglobin (Hb) and oxygenation hemoglobin (HbO2) with time relative to initial values to further obtain the changes of total hemoglobin (tHb) and cerebral perfusion (denoted by HbD). In normal neonates at 2-5 min post-birth, rSO2 increased while tHb remained relatively stable and HbD increased. In neonates born of PIH mothers at 3-5 min post-birth, the changes of tHb were markedly higher than those in the normal infants, p<0.05; at 2-5 min post-birth, the changes were markedly lower than the normal term infants. We concluded that NIRS can detect the changes of cerebral oxygenation and blood flow in a non-invasive and effective way.

