Therapeutic Hypothermia for Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy - Where to from Here?

ABSTRACT: Hypoxia-ischemia before or around the time of birth occurs in approximately 2/1000 live births and is associated with a high risk of death or lifelong disability. Therapeutic hypothermia is now well established as standard treatment for infants with moderate to severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy but is only partially effective. There is compelling preclinical and clinical evidence that hypothermia is most protective when it is started as early as possible after hypoxia-ischemia. Further improvements in outcome from therapeutic hypothermia are very likely to arise from strategies to reduce the delay before starting treatment of affected infants. In this review, we examine evidence that current protocols are reasonably close to the optimal depth and duration of cooling, but that the opti

SUBMITTER: Davidson JO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4568393 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature