Study of head cooling for newborns with hypoxic ischemic enchephalopathy / Yasmine Karam Ramadan Ibrahim ; Supervise Ayma Abdelrahmand , Abdelrahman Ahmed Abdelrazek , Sherief Elanwary Abdelmenam

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Pediatrics

Despite major advances in obstetric and neonatal care, hypoxic-ischemic cerebral injury during the perinatal period is still a significant cause of death and severe long-term neurological impairment like cerebral palsy, mental retardation and epilepsy in children (Ilves et al., 2009). Neonatal encephalopathy (NE) in term or late preterm infant is {u2018}a clinically de{uFB01}ned syndrome of disturbed neurological function in the earliest days of life manifested by difficulty with initiating and maintaining respiration, depression of tone and re{uFB02}exes, subnormal level of consciousness and often by seizure (Pfister and Soll., 2010). Until recently, there were no specific strategies for prevention of brain injury in term and near-term infants. Neuroprotection with brain-specific therapies has been well studies in the preclinical arena over the past 15 years, with the aim to block or dampen cascade of events triggered by hypoxia and ischemia. (Shankaran., 2009). Recent randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have shown that mild therapeutic hypothermia (TH) initiated within 6 hrs of birth reduces death as well as neurodevelopmental disabilities at 18 months of age in surviving infants (Selway., 2010). Hypothermia has been shown to be reduce cerebral metabolism, prevent edema and loss of membrane potential, decrease brain energy use, prolong the latent phase, reduce infarct size, decrease neuronal cell loss, and the extent of brain injury and epileptic activity, relieves the permeability of BBB and intracranial pressure, (Shankaran., 2012).

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