Paediatrics and Child Health

Biography

Research Interests

My research interest is the EEG of the newborn baby in the early post natal period. There is very little data available on the neonatal EEG in hypoxia-ischaemia early in the newborn period i.e. between 0-12 hours of birth and virtually nothing is known about the EEG of the normal neonate during this time period. 

The influence of factors such as labour, delivery method and maternal anaesthesia has not been studied early in this time period. This information is essential before we can accurately identify the severity of hypoxia ischaemia early in the newborn period, provide accurate prognosis in this period and correctly identify those babies that will benefit most from neuroprotective therapies.

 The aims of my research study are:

·        To establish normal EEG and sleep patterns in the immediate post-natal period in healthy full term neonates.

·        To determine the effects of labour, delivery method and maternal anaesthesia on these early EEG and sleep patterns. 

·        To compare these patterns to the early EEG patterns of babies with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy. 

My PhD is supervised by Dr Geraldine Boylan and Prof CA Ryan, and running in collaboration with the Department of Electrical Engineering, UCC and Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin.

Publications

1. Korotchikova I, Boylan GB, Dempsey EM, Ryan CA. Presence of both parents during consent process in non-therapeutic neonatal research increases positive resonse. Acta Paediatr.2010 May 19. [Epub ahead of print]

2. Doyle, OM, Korotchikova I, Lightbody G, Marnane W, Kerins D, Boylan GB. Heart rate variability during sleep in healthy term newborns in the early postnatal period. Physiol Meas.2009 Aug;30(8):847-60. Epub 2009 Jul 10.

3. Korotchikova I, Connolly S, Ryan CA, Murray DM, Temko A, Greene BR, Boylan GB.  EEG in the health term newborn within 12 hours of birth.  Clinic Neurophysiol. 2009 Jun;120(6):1046-53.Epub 2009 May 8.

4. Greene BR, Faul S, Marnane WP, Lightbody G, Korotchikova I, Boylan GB.  A comparison of quantitative EEG features for neonatal seizure detection. Clin Nurophysiol.2008 Jun;119(6):1248-61.Epub 2008 Apr1.