Adjuvant treatment with monosialoganglioside may improve neurological outcomes in neonatal hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background
Ganglioside has a neuroprotective role in neonatal hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). This study aimed to evaluate the neurological outcomes of monosialoganglioside as adjuvant treatment for neonatal HIE by conducting a meta-analysis.
Methods
A comprehensive literature search was made in the Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Wanfang, CNKI, VIP databases through October 2016. Randomized controlled trials comparing monosialoganglioside with the usual treatment for newborns having HIE deemed eligible. Weighted mean difference (WMD) and risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for continuous and dichotomous data, respectively.
Results
Ten trials consisting of 787 neonates were included. Adjuvant treatment with monosialoganglioside significantly reduced major neurodevelopmental disabilities (RR = 0.35; 95% CI = 0.21–0.57), cerebral palsy (RR = 0.32; 95% CI = 0.12–0.87), mental retardation (RR = 0.31; 95% CI = 0.11–0.88) as well as improved the mental (WMD = 14.95; 95% CI = 7.44–22.46) and psychomotive (WMD = 13.40; 95% CI = 6.69–20.11) development index during the follow-up. Also, monosialoganglioside significantly improved Neonatal Behavioral Neurological Assessment scores (WMD = 2.91; 95% CI = 2.05–3.78) compared with the usual treatment. However, adverse effects associated with monosialoganglioside were poorly reported in the included trials.
Conclusion
Adjuvant treatment with monosialoganglioside had beneficial effects in improving neurological outcomes in neonatal HIE. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution because of methodological flaws in the included trials. Furthermore, safety of monosialoganglioside use should also be further evaluated.