Cerebral and Renal Oxygenation in Infants Undergoing Laparoscopic Gastrostomy Tube Placement

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum on cerebral and renal oxygenation and oxygen extraction, in a cohort of infants from the neonatal intensive care unit, undergoing laparoscopic gastrostomy.

After institutional review board approval, between February 2018 and June 2019, infants 0-3 mo corrected age, undergoing laparoscopic gastrostomy tube placement, were included. Strict exclusion criteria created a homogeneous cohort. Cerebral and renal tissue oxygen saturation (rSO₂) by near-infrared spectroscopy, skin surface oxygen saturation (SpO₂), by pulse oximetry, and amplitude-integrated electroencephalography were measured. Monitoring was divided into preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative time periods. Cerebral and renal fractional tissue oxygen extraction was calculated using arterial (SpO₂) and tissue oxygen saturation (rSO₂): (SpO₂-rSO₂SpO₂)X100. Data were averaged into one-minute epochs and significant changes from baseline during the intraoperative and postoperative periods were detected using one-way analysis of variance with repeated measures.

This pilot study examined sixteen infants, born at a median gestational age of 34.2 wk (range: 23.0-40.6) with a median corrected age of 42.9 wk (range: 40.0-46.3) at operation. None had seizure activity or altered sleep-wake cycles. No statistically significant variations in cerebral and renal tissue oxygenation and extraction were observed. Pulse oximetry did demonstrate significant variation from baseline on analysis of variance, but post hoc analysis did not identify any one specific time point at which this difference was significant.

During a short infant laparoscopic procedure, no significant alteration in cerebral or renal oxygenation or oxygen extraction was observed. No seizure activity or changes in infant sleep-wake cycles occurred.