ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To observe the one-year neurologic prognostic outcome of newborns with moderate and severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) who received recombinant human erythropoietin (rhuEPO) combined with exogenous monosialotetrahexosylganglioside (GM1) treatment to provide new guidelines for clinical treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seventy-six newborns with moderate and severe HIE were selected from February 2011 to February 2014 in our hospital. This study received the informed consent of our hospital's Ethics Committee and the newborns' guardians. The newborns were divided to an observation group (n = 34 cases) and a control group (n = 42 cases). All newborns underwent hypothermia and conventional treatment for their conditions. The control group received GMl treatment and observation group received rhuEPO combined with GMl treatment. The curative differences and neural behavior from these two groups were compared. RESULTS: The excellent, efficient proportion and total effective rate of the newborns from the observation group were higher than the control group. The death rate, cerebral palsy and the invalid ratio of the newborns from the observation group were lower than that of the control group. Awareness, muscle tension, primitive reflex and increased intracranial pressure recovery time of the newborns in the observation group were less than those of the control group. The Neonatal Behavior Neurological Assessment (NBNA) score of both groups after the treatment of 7, 14 and 28 days were significantly higher and increased with time (p < 0.05). The MDI, PDI and DQ score of newborns from the two groups all increased after treatment of 3, 6 and 12 months than those of before, which increased with time (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The rhuEPO + GMl treatment in newborns with HIE improves short-term clinical effects and long-term neurological symptoms.