Objective To investigate the value of umbilical artery blood gas analysis combined with cord blood serum cardiac troponin T (cTnT) level in assessing myocardial injury after neonatal asphyxia (NA).

Methods The basic data of 120 NA neonates were retrospectively analyzed, and another 120 normal newborns were regarded as the control group. Umbilical artery blood gas analysis indexes and serum cTnT level were detected and compared between the NA group and the control group; the umbilical arterial blood gas analysis indexes and serum cTnT level of children with NA in the non-myocardial injury group (76 cases) and the myocardial injury group (44 cases) were compared; ROC curves were applied to analyze the value of umbilical artery blood gas analysis and serum cTnT in diagnosing myocardial injury complicated by NA.

Results The pH value and PaO2 level in the NA group were lower than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.05), and the PaCO2 and serum cTnT level were higher than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.05). The pH value and PaO2 level of the NA children in the myocardial injury group were lower than those in the non-injured myocardium group (P ＜ 0.05), and the PaCO2 and serum cTnT level were higher than those in the non-injured myocardium group (P ＜ 0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of pH, PaCO2, PaO2, and cTnT for diagnosing NA complicated with myocardial injury was 0.834, 0.671, 0.548, and 0.851, respectively, and the AUC of pH value combined cTnT to diagnos NA complicated with myocardial injury was 0.946, and its sensitivity was 95.5 %, the specificity was 88.2%, which was higher than the diagnosed value of the two alone (z = 2.243, 2.003, P = 0.025, 0.045).

Conclusion The pH value and PaO2 level of NA children with myocardial injury are lower, while the PaCO2 and serum cTnT level are higher. The combination of pH value and serum cTnT level in umbilical artery blood gas analysis may be more beneficial to clinically diagnos NA complicated with myocardial injury.