Changes in cerebral blood flow parameters among preterm 30-34 week neonates who are initiated on kangaroo mother care...

Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is recommended standard of care for preterm neonates. They are vulnerable for cerebral blood flow (CBF) fluctuations linked to intraventricular hemorrhage and periventricular leukomalacia, which have implications on neurodevelopment. This study was designed to document any change in CBF in middle cerebral artery (MCA) of stabilized preterm 30-34 weeks neonates who are initiated on KMC.

We designed a prospective analytical observational study in a tertiary care neonatal unit. We enrolled 30-34 weeks preterm neonates eligible for KMC after their stabilization (n = 40). CBF was measured in supine position via right MCA Doppler through the temporal window before any KMC, after 2 h of 1st KMC session and following 24 h of 1st session. CBF was quantified in terms of pulsatility index (PI), Resistive Index (RI), peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV), mean velocity (MV) and values were compared against the existing normative values.

Mean gestation of study population was 31.91 weeks with a mean birth weight of 1432.75 g. Median day of initiation of KMC was 7 days with mean duration of KMC on day 1 was 4.56 h. We could find statistically significant decrease in the values of PI and RI from 90th centile towards 50th centile of normative values with a mean difference of 0.22 (99 % CI 0.02-0.43, p 0.005) for PI and 0.05 (99 % CI 0.02-0.07, p = 0.000) for RI post the first session of KMC. Following 24 h of 1st KMC session, we could find a significant increase in values of PSV, EDV and MV comparing values of pre-initiation with day 2 pre-KMC but values of PI and RI were not significantly different.

CBF among 30-34 week preterm neonates tend to optimize after initiation of KMC.