Evaluation of the Cerebral Function Monitor as a tool for neurophysiological surveillance in neonatal intensive care patients

Background: Cerebral function in critically ill infants is difficult to ass ess and would certainly require continuous monitoring. Therefore, this stud y was performed to evaluate the Cerebral Function Monitor (CFM) as a tool f or continuous neurophysiological surveillance in the Neonatal Intensive Car e Unit (NICU). Patients: A total of 40 neurological risk neonates were incl uded in the study. They were classified on the basis of their primary diagn oses as infants with clinically manifest seizures, suspected seizure activi ty, intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) . A group of 20 neurologically normal (preterm and full-term) infants serve d as controls. Results and conclusion: All patients with seizures showed pa thologic patterns in both the CFM and the conventional EEG tracings. The pa tients with ICH showed depressed amplitudes, an increase in discontinuous a ctivity, and a high incidence of seizure activity. The patients with HIE we re characterized by depressed activities correlating with the severity of t he pathology. Our results indicate that the CFM is a very helpful tool for neurophysiological surveillance in high-risk neonates.