Cooling therapy 'cuts infant brain damage risk'.London, Oct 1 (ANI): Brain damage caused by lack of oxygen at birth can be averted by applying a hi-tech version of an ice pack to the head, major research suggests. Cooling the brains of newborn babies deprived of oxygen dramatically improves the proportion who survive unharmed, two decades of research has shown. In the study, boffins found full-term babies who suffered oxygen loss at birth were 57 percent more likely to survive without brain damage if their bodies were cooled, reports The BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. . The study has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine The New England Journal of Medicine (New Engl J Med or NEJM) is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world. . The babies' body temperature was brought down by about 4C using a fluid-filled mat under their sheet. Dr Denis Denis, king of Portugal: see Diniz. Azzopardi, from Imperial College London History Imperial College was founded in 1907, with the merger of the City and Guilds College, the Royal School of Mines and the Royal College of Science (all of which had been founded between 1845 and 1878) with these entities continuing to exist as "constituent colleges". and who led the trial, said: "The study builds on a 20-year body of research but gives, for the first time, irrefutable proof that cooling can be effective in reducing brain damage after birth asphyxia asphyxia (ăsfĭk`sēə), deficiency of oxygen and excess of carbon dioxide in the blood and body tissues. Asphyxia, often referred to as suffocation, usually results from an interruption of breathing due to mechanical blockage of the . "Although unfortunately it doesn't work in every case, our study showed the proportion of babies that survived without signs of brain damage went from 28 percent to 44 percent with cooling treatments - that's a 57 percent increase." To reach the conclusion, researchers studied 325 full-term babies who had been starved of oxygen at birth. Half of the newborn babies had their body temperature reduced to 33-34C (91-93F) for 72 hours followed by gradual re-warming in intensive care. Normal body temperature is around 37C (98F). (ANI) Copyright 2009 Asian News International The Asian News International (ANI) agency provides multimedia news to China and 50 bureaus in India. It covers virtually all of South Asia since its foundation and presently claims, on its official website, to be the leading South Asia-wide news agency. (ANI) - All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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