During gestation, an unborn child's brain is vulnerable to a wide range of threats. When a newborn baby is asphyxiated (a lack of oxygen to the baby) before or during birth, a condition called HIE, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy may occur. As the HIE continues to occur over several hours, the lack of oxygen and even blood supply to the brain causes a series of events to begin as the body attempts to repair the problem. If the HIE is mild, there shouldn't be a problem; however, if the HIE is more severe, the body may end up causing damage to the brain as it attempts to repair itself.
The HIE takes several hours before the damage is permanent. If the baby's body temperature is slightly cooled, creating a mild hypothermia, there is a chance the baby will live a normal and healthy life. By giving the baby a cool fluid filled blanket or a water cooled cap, the baby's temperature can drop by 3-4 degrees celcius for 72 hours after birth. This helps the baby's body shut down dangerous reactions that would normally create additional brain damage under these conditions. Creating a brain hypothermia by reducing the baby's temperature to 33 degrees celcius for 72 hours after birth appear to be the only medical treatment for a baby who was asphyxiated at birth. After the 72 hours, the baby's are slowly warmed back up to normal body temperature for the next 6 hours.
In order for the brain cooling method to be successful, baby's who have experienced HIE must be subjected to brain cooling within 6 hours of birth. The infant must have sustained brain damage and been gestated beyond 36 weeks. With so many elements required in such a short amount of time, it is critical that the doctor's are careful and understand how to properly apply this procedure. Failure to handle this procedure properly could result in additional brain injuries or even death to the baby. Brain cooling may also be referred to as therapeutic hypothermia or neural rescue.
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