Neonates undergoing cardiac surgery involving aortic arch reconstruction are at an increased risk for hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. Deep hypothermia is utilized to help mitigate this risk when periods of circulatory arrest are needed for surgical repair. Here, we investigate correlations between non-invasive optical neuromonitoring of cerebral hemodynamics, which has recently shown promise for the prediction of postoperative white matter injury in this patient population, and invasive cerebral microdialysis biomarkers. We compared cerebral tissue oxygen saturation (StO2), relative total hemoglobin concentration (rTHC), and relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) measured by optics against the microdialysis biomarkers of metabolic stress and injury (lactate–pyruvate ratio (LPR) and glycerol) in neonatal swine models of deep hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (DHCPB), selective antegrade cerebral perfusion (SACP), and deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA). All three optical parameters were negatively correlated with LPR and glycerol in DHCA animals. Elevation of LPR was found to precede the elevation of glycerol by 30–60 min. From these data, thresholds for the detection of hypoxic-ischemia-associated cerebral metabolic distress and neurological injury are suggested. In total, this work provides insight into the timing and mechanisms of neurological injury following hypoxic-ischemia and reports a quantitative relationship between hypoxic-ischemia severity and neurological injury that may inform DHCA management.
