Identifying Early Diagnostic Biomarkers Associated with Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy

BACKGROUND: Identifying an effective method for the early diagnosis of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) would be beneficial for effective therapies. METHODS: We studied blood biomarkers before 6 h after birth to correlate the degree of neonatal HIE. A total of 80 patients were divided into group 1 (mild HIE) and group 2 (moderate or severe HIE). Then, 42 patients from group 2 received hypothermia therapy and were further divided into group 3 (unremarkable or mild MRI results) and group 4 (severe MRI results). RESULTS: Between groups 1 and 2, lactate, creatinine, white blood cells, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were significantly different. Between groups 3 and 4, lactate, prothrombin time, and albumin were significantly different. Sarnat staging was based on our observation that more than 45 mg/dL of lactate combined with more than 1000 U/L of LDH yielded the highest positive predictive value (PPV) (95.7%; odds ratio, 22.00), but a low negative predictive value (NPV) for moderate or severe HIE. Using more than 45 mg/dL of lactate yielded the highest NPV (71.4%) correlated with moderate or severe HIE. CONCLUSIONS: Lactate combined with LDH before 6 h after birth yielded a high PPV. Using combined biomarkers to exclude mild HIE, include moderate or severe HIE, and initialize hypothermia therapy is feasible.