Imperial College London sponsored trial in newborn infants with perinatal asphyxial encephalopathy assessing whether a combination of hypothermia and inhaled xenon preserve cerebral metabolism and structure.
New England Journal of Medicine abstract of study to evaluate the effects of induction of moderate hypothermia in infants who had perinatal asphyxia. Study concluded that Induction of moderate hypothermia for 72 hours in infants who had perinatal asphyxia did not significantly reduce the combined rate of death or severe disability but resulted in improved neurologic outcomes in survivors. (Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN89547571 [controlled-trials.com] .)
Study sponsored by Imperial College London - Hypothesis: Study aims to determine whether whole body cooling to 33-34°C is a safe treatment that improves survival, without severe neurological or neurodevelopmental impairments at 18 months, of term infants
suffering perinatal asphyxial encephalopathy
PubMed Study Abstract: Ten indicators available during the first two hours of life, such as clinical criteria of neonatal distress and postnatal arterial blood gases, were compared
with the neonatal neurological course in sixty full term newborns with significant birth asphyxia in order to test their value for the diagnosis and the short-term prognosis of severe birth asphyxia. Birth asphyxia was defined as severe when it was followed by symptoms of moderate or severe post-asphyxial encephalopathy.