Cerebral blood flow and left ventricular output in spontaneously breathing, newborn preterm infants treated with caffeine or aminophylline

Aminophylline and caffeine are commonly used for prophylaxis of apnea in premature infants. Previous studies have indicated different effects of the drugs on cerebral circulation. Therefore, we have compared the acute effects of bolus administration of caffeine citrate or aminophylline on left ventricular output, heart rate, blood pressure and global cerebral blood flow. The study group consisted of 33 newborn, spontaneously breathing, preterm infants randomly assigned to receive either aminophylline 5mg/kg (n= 19) or caffeine citrate 20mg/kg (n= 14). Two hours after iv drug administration, global cerebral blood flow measured by the Xe‐clearance technique was significantly lower after aminophylline than after caffeine (mean(SD)): 13.2 (+2.9/ ‐ 2.3) versus 17.2 (+7.1/ ‐ 5.1) ml/100 g/min) (p= 0.01). There were no other statistically significant differences in circulatory or ventilatory parameters between the groups. Further studies are needed to clarify the clinical relevance of these results.