Visualization of the Oxygenation State of Brain and Muscle in Newborn Infants by Near Infra-Red Transillumination

Inadequate oxygen supply to the brain and cerebral haemorrhage are the two main causes of death and permanent disability in infants who need intensive care [1,2]. Haemorrhage is easy to detect by ultrasound imaging, but this technique does not identify hypoxic or ischaemic changes until it is too late to intervene successfully to prevent irreversible damage. Non-invasive methods are therefore urgently needed, so that the oxygen supply to the brain can be monitored, and therapy put on a rational basis. Phosphorous Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, which provides valuable information about oxidative phosphorylation, has proved to be one such method [3], but it suffers from the disadvantages that it is expensive and the baby has to be transported to the spectrometer.