[Doppler flow velocities in cerebral arteries in relation to intravenous phenobarbital in premature infants weighing between 500 and 1,500 g].

In very premature ventilated infants (GA 25-30 weeks, BW 575-1420 g) values for heart frequency, mean arterial blood pressure and pCO2 were obtained, and also Doppler-sonographic measurements of the right internal carotid artery were performed to assess cerebral haemodynamics, before and 5-10 min after the intravenous injection of 20 mg/kg phenobarbitone (study I/n = 10) or 5 mg/kg phenobarbitone (study II/n = 10). There were no significant changes in any of these parameters. Therefore phenobarbitone does not have seem to have any significant effect on cerebral haemodynamics up to a dosage of 20 mg/kg, so that there is no apparent effect on the risk of cerebral haemorrhage. On the other hand this study confirms that phenobarbitone can be used in very low birth weight preterm infants with this dosage without causing any substantial haemodynamic risk.