Circulating S100B: An Early Biomarker of the Severity of HypoxicI schemic Encephalopathy in Asphyxiated Full Term Newborn Infants

Neuroprotective interventions in neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy require early indicators of brain damage to initiate therapy. In order to find a reliable, rapid and simple method to identify infants at risk for this disorder, 60 full term infants with asphyxia were selected as the observation group after one week followup for degree of HIE (HIE group) and 30 normal term infants as (control group). S100B were determined within 6 hours after birth on first postnatal day and we found that S100B levels of HIE group were higher than those of control group and there were significant differences between the mild HIE group and the moderate and severe HIE group (p 0.001). An S100B concentration at cut off level of 1157. 5pg/ml had a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 100%, PPV 100% and NPV 100% for predicting the development of moderate or severe HIE at more risk of neurologic sequalae. Both Apgar score 1 min 5 min and arterial blood PH were significantly different in the HIE group compared to control group and in the moderate and severe group when compared to mild group (p 0.001). Thus on the basis of clinical manifestation of asphyxiated neonates, detecting SWOB protein levels may be of important value in the early diagnosis and grading of HIE.