The ICON Study

NHS Lothian neonatal guidelines
NHS Lothian

INVESTIGATING CEREBRAL OXYGENATION IN THE NEWBORN

Thank you for your help implementing NIRS monitoring into clinical practice!

I will be collecting NIRS data for my research project from July 2023 onwards - I am asking for your help to identify patients to join the study and to ensure the monitors are set up correctly for data collection 

What questions in the study asking?

In term babies undergoing cooling

We aim to understand if NIRS monitoring could help us identify babies with significant brain injury sooner than current tests can. To do this, we will compare cerebral oxygenation during cooling treatment and for 24 hours after rewarming to findings on MRI and MRS scans.

We would also like to understand how cerebral oxygenation changes during seizures. We will look at NIRS recordings alongside aEEG/CFAM recordings to do this.

In this group, I will ask for consent to collect data from routine clinical monitoring for research purposes.

In babies born at <28 weeks gestation

We would like to understand more about how cerebral oxygenation in the first 72 hours of life relates to findings on cranial ultrasound scan (and MRI scan when this is performed) and developmental outcomes.

  • To do this, I will ask for consent to collect data from routine clinical monitoring, scans and follow up assessments for research purposes.

We would also like to find out if cerebral oxygenation is different in babies with BPD compared to those without BPD once they reach 36 weeks corrected gestational age.

  • To do this, I will ask for consent to apply NIRS monitoring for an additional period of time when a baby reaches 36 weeks gestational age.


Investigating cerebral oxygenation in the newborn

Please continue to start NIRS monitoring as soon as practically possible for:

  • Babies born at less than 28 weeks gestation
  • Babies commencing cooling treatment

When starting NIRS monitoring or changing the probe please remember to:

  • Set the baseline
  • Zero the cHbi

Identifying study babies

Please remind the medical staff to let me know when an eligible baby is admitted. I will then arrange to come and discuss the study with the parents at a suitable time

This is important as I need to speak to the parents within 72 hours of the baby's birth to allow me to collect the data.

For babies recruited to the study

Babies recruited to the study will have cot cards and cards attached to the NIRS monitor to identify them.

Please do not remove the NIRS monitors from these babies until:

  • 24 hours after rewarming for the babies who have had cooling treatment
  • 72 hours of age for the extremely preterm babies

Once the monitor is removed, please keep the monitor in the cotspace and do not clear the data from the machine

I will attend the unit as soon as possible to download the data and clear the machine

Any questions?

Email me: Helen.l.turner@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

Editorial Information

Author(s): Helen Turner.

Author email(s): helen.i.turner@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk.