Introduction:
Transition from fetal to extrauterine life is a complex physiological process. During this process assessment of vital parameters is recommended using pulse oximetry and cardiac monitoring. This approach does not include monitoring of the brain, which is one of the most vulnerable organs in regard to hypoxia.
Various monitoring strategies have been employed during the initial postnatal transition throughout the previous few decades. These monitoring tool include, doppler sonography of cerebral blood vessels, amplitude integrated aEEG of cerebral activity and near infrared spectroscopy for monitoring cerebral oxygenation.
Near-infrared spectroscopy allows for noninvasive, continuous monitoring of regional tissue oxygenation (rSO₂) of different body organs .Regional cerebral oxygenation represents a combination of arterial, capillary and venous perfusion saturation and the proportion is supposed to be 25:75. As a result, this value is closer to venous oxygen saturation than arterial oxygen saturation (SpO₂) measured by pulse oximetry.
Aim of the work:
The aim of the study was to assess the values of cerebral oxygenation in the fullterm neonates in the first 10 minutes of life and to compare these values between neonates delivered by normal vaginal delivery and those delivered by elective cesarean section