A study of relationship of thrombophilicfactors related to perinatal stroke in the newborns

Abstract

Background: Perinatal strokes are not rare. In fact, the perinatal period ranks second only to adult age groups in the incidence of stroke and accounts for 30% of children affected with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP) who are born at term or late preterm gestations. Objective: To study the relationship of thrombophilicfactors related to perinatal stroke. Methods: 34 neonates comprising of inborn and outborn babies, admitted in NICU, Gandhi Hospital were subjected to cross sectional study. The cases were subjected to neurosonogram, EEG and MRI. Other investigations like Protein C, Protein S, antithrombin-lll, Antiphospholipid antibody and homocysteine were done on the blood samples to study some of the factors related to thrombotic state. Data was analyzed using SPSS. Results and Conclusion: There is no statistically significant difference in the mean and standard deviations of different factors related to thrombotic state with respect to sex of the child. No statistically significant association is seen between the levels of factors related to thrombotic state studied and the mode of delivery. Mean Protein C levels are found to be significantly elevated in babies with abnormal EEGs. Anti-thrombin III and APLA IgG levels are significantly lower in the group [(P = 0.047and 0.039 respectively)], of newborns with MRI abnormalities. There is a significant rise in homocysteine levels in relation to MRI abnormalities [(P = 0.004)]. The R2 values for the model summaries of the regression tables with respect to Protein C, Protein S, Anti-thrombin III, APLA IgG & IgM, and homocysteine are associated with MRI Brain & EEG findings. Conclusions: The levels of factors related to thrombosis have no association to the stages of HIE in this study, but are associated with abnormalities on MRI.

Keywords

• perinatal stroke
• eeg
• mri
• thrombosis