Treatment
Pediatric Hypothermia Whole Body Cooling
Whole body hypothermia provides cerebral (brain) protection for newborns affected by hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). This complication occurs when there is a reduced level of oxygen (hypoxia) or blood flow (ischemia) to the baby's brain or body.
Whole-body cooling places newborns on a water-filled cooling mattress to reduce body temperature to 92°F for three days, which is long enough to interrupt brain injury. After the three days, your baby recovers to a normal body temperature in our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with continuous EEG (electroencephalogram) neuromonitoring. Our cooling program follows the National Institute of Health's Neonatal Network protocol, which demonstrates a reduction in death or serious disability for infants who develop serious neonatal encephalopathy within six hours of birth.
Providers of Hypothermia Whole Body Cooling
Suma Bhat Hoffman, MD
- Neonatologist
- Associate Director, Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship Program
Billie Lou Short, MD
Locations
Departments
- Helping Maddie to Live Life to the Fullest
Maddie is a lively, creative teen who loves to act. Research at Children's National Hospital helps to ensure that her rare disease doesn"t upstage her big theater plans or her love of life.
Departments that Offer Hypothermia Whole Body Cooling
Neonatal Neurology and Neonatal Neurocritical Care
The Neonatal Neurology and Neurocritical Care Program at Children’s National is the only one of its kind in the mid-Atlantic region and a leader in advancing neurologic care to some of our most critically ill newborns.
