Water-Filled Cap Used To Lower Body Temperature

Babies were recruited if there were evidence that the infant had received an inadequate supply of oxygen to the brain during delivery, or when electrical activity from the brain indicated a high risk of brain injury.

To achieve cooling, the body temperature of babies in the trial was lowered by 3 to 4 degrees for 72 hours after birth using a water-filled cap.

The trial, which was supported by Olympic Medical from Seattle, US, indicates that, for some babies, cooling can reduce brain damage significantly. "This demonstrates for the first time that treatment may be possible for babies who suffer oxygen deprivation at birth," comments Professor Marianne Thoresen from Bristol University. Most of the English babies were treated in the Bristol hospitals.

Oxygen Deprivation Triggers Chemical Cascade

It was discovered some years ago that when the brain is starved of oxygen at birth, damage does not occur immediately; instead, as Professor John Wyatt of University College London points out, "a chemical cascade is triggered leading to brain damage hours or days afterwards."

The cooling study results from a long series of studies begun a decade ago when the UK researchers started to work on the problem together with a group from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. In experiments, they found that cooling prevented the chemical cascade from causing permanent brain damage, and they developed the discovery to the point where the treatment could be tested in babies.

"We need to get further information on the timing and methods of cooling, as well as which babies are most suitable for treatment, before cooling becomes the standard of care for oxygen-deprived babies," Bristol researcher Professor Andrew Whitelaw points out.