The New England Journal of Medicine
e-mail icon  FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |    Advanced Search
Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe
 
Original Article
PreviousPrevious
Volume 353:1574-1584 October 13, 2005 Number 15
NextNext

Whole-Body Hypothermia for Neonates with Hypoxic–Ischemic Encephalopathy
Seetha Shankaran, M.D., Abbot R. Laptook, M.D., Richard A. Ehrenkranz, M.D., Jon E. Tyson, M.D., M.P.H., Scott A. McDonald, B.S., Edward F. Donovan, M.D., Avroy A. Fanaroff, M.D., W. Kenneth Poole, Ph.D., Linda L. Wright, M.D., Rosemary D. Higgins, M.D., Neil N. Finer, M.D., Waldemar A. Carlo, M.D., Shahnaz Duara, M.D., William Oh, M.D., C. Michael Cotten, M.D., David K. Stevenson, M.D., Barbara J. Stoll, M.D., James A. Lemons, M.D., Ronnie Guillet, M.D., Ph.D., Alan H. Jobe, M.D., Ph.D., for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network

 Sign up for free e-toc
 

This Article
-Full Text
- PDF
-PDA Full Text
-PowerPoint Slide Set

Commentary
-Editorial
 by Papile, L.-A.
-Letters

Tools and Services
-Add to Personal Archive
-Add to Citation Manager
-Notify a Friend
-E-mail When Cited
-E-mail When Letters Appear

More Information
-PubMed Citation
ABSTRACT

Background Hypothermia is protective against brain injury after asphyxiation in animal models. However, the safety and effectiveness of hypothermia in term infants with encephalopathy is uncertain.

Methods We conducted a randomized trial of hypothermia in infants with a gestational age of at least 36 weeks who were admitted to the hospital at or before six hours of age with either severe acidosis or perinatal complications and resuscitation at birth and who had moderate or severe encephalopathy. Infants were randomly assigned to usual care (control group) or whole-body cooling to an esophageal temperature of 33.5°C for 72 hours, followed by slow rewarming (hypothermia group). Neurodevelopmental outcome was assessed at 18 to 22 months of age. The primary outcome was a combined end point of death or moderate or severe disability.

Results Of 239 eligible infants, 102 were assigned to the hypothermia group and 106 to the control group. Adverse events were similar in the two groups during the 72 hours of cooling. Primary outcome data were available for 205 infants. Death or moderate or severe disability occurred in 45 of 102 infants (44 percent) in the hypothermia group and 64 of 103 infants (62 percent) in the control group (risk ratio, 0.72; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.54 to 0.95; P=0.01). Twenty-four infants (24 percent) in the hypothermia group and 38 (37 percent) in the control group died (risk ratio, 0.68; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.44 to 1.05; P=0.08). There was no increase in major disability among survivors; the rate of cerebral palsy was 15 of 77 (19 percent) in the hypothermia group as compared with 19 of 64 (30 percent) in the control group (risk ratio, 0.68; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.38 to 1.22; P=0.20).

Conclusions Whole-body hypothermia reduces the risk of death or disability in infants with moderate or severe hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy.


Source Information

From the Division of Neonatal–Perinatal Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit (S.S.); Women's and Infant's Hospital, Providence, R.I. (A.R.L., W.O.); Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn. (R.A.E.); University of Texas at Houston, Houston (J.E.T.); Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, N.C. (S.A.M., W.K.P.); College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati (E.F.D., A.H.J.); Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Case Western University, Cleveland (A.A.F.); National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Md. (L.L.W., R.D.H.); University of California at San Diego, San Diego (N.N.F.); University of Alabama, Birmingham (W.A.C.); Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami, Miami (S.D.); Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. (C.M.C.); Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, Calif. (D.K.S.); Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta (B.J.S.); Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis (J.A.L.); and the University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y. (R.G.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Shankaran at the Division of Neonatal–Perinatal Medicine, Wayne State University, Children's Hospital of Michigan, 3901 Beaubien Blvd., Rm. 4H46, Detroit, MI 48201, or at sshankar{at}med.wayne.edu.

Full Text of this Article


Related Letters:

Hypothermia for Neonates with Hypoxic–Ischemic Encephalopathy
Polderman K. H., Girbes A. R.J., Nelson K. B., Leviton A., Gluckman P. D., Gunn A. J., Wyatt J. S., Shankaran S., Laptook A. R., the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2006; 354:1643-1645, Apr 13, 2006. Correspondence

This article has been cited by other articles:



HOME  |  SUBSCRIBE  |  SEARCH  |  CURRENT ISSUE  |  PAST ISSUES  |  COLLECTIONS  |  PRIVACY  |  TERMS OF USE  |  HELP  |  beta.nejm.org

Comments and questions? Please contact us.

The New England Journal of Medicine is owned, published, and copyrighted © 2009 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.