Neonatal Brain Temperature Monitoring Based on Broadband Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Neuroscience
• Neonatal Care

Background:

• Neonatal encephalopathy often requires therapeutic hypothermia.
• Monitoring brain temperature (BT) is crucial for managing neonatal neurocritical care.
• Current methods for assessing BT in neonates are invasive or limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel algorithm using broadband near-infrared spectroscopy (bNIRS) for non-invasive estimation of neonatal brain temperature (BT) changes.
• To assess the algorithm's performance in a numerical phantom and in a preclinical model of seizures.
• To explore the relationship between BT changes and rectal temperature (RT) during induced seizures in piglets.

Main Methods:

• Development of a novel algorithm utilizing broadband near-infrared spectroscopy (bNIRS) data.
• Validation using a numerical phantom to assess accuracy of BT and hemodynamic parameter retrieval.
• Testing the algorithm on data from piglets undergoing a seizure induction protocol.

Main Results:

• The algorithm showed good agreement with theoretical values in a numerical phantom.
• A crosstalk effect was observed, leading to underestimation of absolute temperature and hemoglobin concentration changes with large tissue saturation variations.
• In piglets, BT increased significantly during seizures (0.3122°C) despite a decrease in RT (-0.1048°C), with higher BT increases correlating with greater RT drops.

Conclusions:

• The developed bNIRS-based algorithm shows promise for non-invasively monitoring neonatal brain temperature (BT) changes.
• BT monitoring during seizures may serve as a marker for seizure-induced brain injury severity.
• This technology could enhance understanding of BT's impact on injury and improve therapeutic cooling strategies in neonatal neurocritical care.