Baby Cooling Therapy

Studies have shown that lowering the body temperature of an oxygen deprived baby could significantly reduce the risk of brain damage in the long term. Complications, such as the twisting of the umbilical cord occurs in about 2 in 1000 births and causes oxygen starvation. This is a big problem and can frequently result in cerebral palsy or other neurological problems. Standard procedures direct the babies to be hooked up to a ventilator and place in an incubator to keep warm. However, a large-scale clinical trial reveals that babies have better long-term outcomes if they are cooled down by a few degrees instead. According to scientist, the cooling of the body slows down the metabolism and can provide a window during which oxygen deprived neurons (that are not irreversibly damaged) can re-establish a chemical equilibrium and recover.

The study involved 325 newborn infants gathered from all across Britain who were suffering from oxygen deprivation. 163 infants received intensive care with cooling while the other 162 received standard intensive care. The standard care group were kept in incubators, which maintained the babies’ body temperatures at 37C. The babies in the cooled group were wrapped up in a specially designed blanket with circulating cold fluid so that their body temperature was lowered to 34-35C. After 72 hours of cooling the babies were slowly warmed back to a normal body temperature. The study showed a 57 per cent reduction in the risk of brain damage when babies were given the cooling therapy compared with standard treatment.

The Co-chief investigator, Dr Denis Azzopardi, said "The study builds on a 20-year body of research but gives, for the first time, irrefutable proof that cooling can be effective in reducing brain damage after birth asphyxia."

Despite being used to "harden babies in advance for military services" over a millenia ago, this is very welcome research into medicine. Cooling of babies with birth asphyxia is an innovative technique right now being considered by the NICE to make as standard treatment.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/medicine/article6856149.ece

Jonathan Vo VTPP 434