Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics University of Granada Hospital | Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Virgen de las Nieves General Hospital | Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Granada, Spain
Abstract: The successful management of marked biochemical and hemorheological abnormalities in preterm neonates, especially in babies with perinatal asphyxia, requires a thorough understanding of the causes and consequences of such changes. We divided 41 preterm newborns (< 37 weeks of gestational age) into two groups–with and without perinatal asphyxia–to study biochemical, hematological and hemorheological variables (plasma viscosity and internal erythrocyte viscosity measured with a Harkness type capillary viscosimeter, osmolality, anion gap, osmol gap) in blood samples from the umbilical artery and vein. The results were analyzed with comparison of the t-test, correlation and regression studies. The most noteworthy findings were: 1.) similar values in biochemical, hematological and hemorheological variables in both vessels and in both groups, and 2.) evidence of a similar relation between plasma protein concentration and plasma viscosity in umbilical artery and vein in preterm neonates with acute fetal distress.
