Abstract:

Objective   To study the background pattern of amplitude integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) in preterm infants and provide the reference for judging the maturation of preterm infants brains. Methods   160 preterm infants with the gestational age of 25-36+6 weeks were chosen as the study group, and divide the 160 preterm infants into 4 groups according to their gestational age (GA)(＜28W, 28-30+6W, 31-33+6W, 34-36+6W). 40 normal term neonates were chosen as the control group. The aEEG monitoring was done within 72 hours with Olympic cerebral function monitor 6000 (Olympic CFM 6000). The continuty, sleep-wake cycle, low bound voltage, bandwidth and time of a complete sleep-wake cycle were analyzed. Analyze the background patterns of the 4 GA groups. At the same time, analyze the results between the study group and the control group. Compare the background patterns of the preterm infants with different gestational ages. Results   In the study group, with the gestational age increasing, the percentage of continuity background gradually increased(P＜0.01),while it was always continuous in the control group.There was significant difference between the two groups(P＜0.01). The frequency of mature sleep-wake cycle increased (P＜0.01) in the study group, while in the control group, all had mature cycle. There was significant difference between the two groups(P＜0.05). In the study group, with the gestational age increasing,  the low base voltage increased (P＜0.01), the span decreased(P＜0.01), time of a sleep-wake cycle shortened (P＜0.01); the difference of the above values between the study group and the control group was statisticaliy significant(P＜0.05). Conclusion   The aEEG pattern tends to maturity with the development of gestational age. So aEEG can reflect the brain maturation of preterm infants and can be well applied in monitoring the cerebral function of preterm infants.

Key words: Preterm infant; Gestational age; Cerebral function; Cerebral maturation; Amplitudeintegrated electroencephalography