ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopahty(NHIE) is a common neonatal disease, which could cause cerebral palsy, inferior intelligence and convulsion. At present, usual examinations for this disease are CT.MRI and single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT), etc.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the character of SPECT image of NHIE, and compared with CT and MRI as well to provide a theoretical gist for function surveillance and early intervention of NHIE.DESIGN: An observatory comparative study based on NHIE patients and normal neouates as control.SETTING: Department of nuclear medicine in a medical university hospital.PARTICIPANTS: Thirty neonates hospitalized in the Department of Pediatrics, Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical College between September 1998 and October 2000 were selected as observation group with 23 males and 7 females. Another 10 normal neonates including 7 males and 3 females were randomly selected from same period into control group.METHODS: SPECT brain blood perfusion was conducted in the subjects of two groups and the results were compared with that of CT and MRI.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① comparison of SPECT brain blood image features between NHIE and normal neonates; ② comparison of SPECT images and CT, MRI results. RESULTS: In 22 NHIE cases who received SPECT, CT and MRI simultaneously, mild group had 7 cases, and positive cases of SPECT, CT or MRI was 7, 3 or 5; moderate group had 10 cases, and positive cases of three methods was 10, 8 or 9; severe group had 5 cases, the all of them were positive in all three examinations. The total positive detectable rate of SPECT, CT or MRI was 100, 72.73% or 86. 36%. There was no significant difference of sensitivity between SPECT and MRI in mild group, while there was significant difference between SPECT and CT(x2 = 3.95, P ＜ 0.05);there was no significant difference among three methods in either moderate group or severe group(x2 =0. 83, P ＞ 0.05).CONCLUSION: SPECT brain blood perfusion image is a quite sensitive method for the surveillance of NHIE, which can provide imageological reference for the evaluation of its prognosis and early intervention.