The LIFE Study achieved all recruitment benchmarks. Bulk mailing is an efficient method for recruiting high-risk community-dwelling older persons (including minorities), from diverse geographic areas for this long-term behavioral trial.

No abstract

Abstract:Congenital heart disease (CHD) patients are at risk for neurodevelopmental delay. The etiology of these delays is unclear, but abnormal prenatal cerebral maturation and postoperative hemodynamic instability likely play a role. A better understanding of these factors is needed to improve neurodevelopmental outcome. In this study, we used bedside frequency-domain near infrared spectroscopy (FDNIRS) and diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) to assess cerebral hemodynamics and oxygen metabolism in neonates with single-ventricle (SV) CHD undergoing surgery and compared them to controls. Our goals were 1) to compare cerebral hemodynamics between unanesthetized SV and healthy neonates, and 2) to determine if FDNIRS-DCS could detect alterations in cerebral hemodynamics beyond cerebral hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SO 2 ). Eleven SV neonates were recruited and compared to 13 controls. Preoperatively, SV patients showed decreased cerebral blood flow (CBF i ), cerebral oxygen metabolism (CMRO 2i ) and SO 2 ; and increased oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) compared to controls. Compared to preoperative values, unstable postoperative SV patients had decreased CMRO 2i and CBF i , which returned to baseline when stable. However, SO 2 showed no difference between unstable and stable states. Preoperative SV neonates are flow-limited and show signs of impaired cerebral development compared to controls. FDNIRS-DCS shows potential to improve assessment of cerebral development and postoperative hemodynamics compared to SO 2 alone. References and links 1. J. I. E. Hoffman and S. Kaplan, "The incidence of congenital heart disease," J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 39, 1890-1900 A. Rappaport, and D. Wypij, "Randomized trial of hematocrit 25% versus 35% during hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass in infant heart surgery," J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 135, 347-54, 354.e1-4 (2008).

Our data show that pediatric CHD patients who suffer cardiac arrest can be treated effectively and safely with TH, which may decrease the incidence of seizures.