8 - Cooling 'cuts baby brain damage'

"BBC NEWS | Health | Cooling 'cuts baby brain damage'" BBC NEWS | News Front Page. 30 Sept. 2009. Web. 04 Oct. 2009. .

Many times when a child is born it can experience a starvation of oxygen, this is called asphyxia. This lack of vital oxygen then in turn would cause the baby to develop brain damage. But major research has now found that when a baby that has experienced a lack of oxygen during the birthing process and is cooled down about 4 degrees Celsius (from normal body temperature of 37 degrees Celsius)that have a 57% chance of not developing brain damage. This hypothermic state can be achieved by immediately placing the baby on a fluid filled mat and allowing the babies body temperature to drop about 4 degrees Celsius and stay in this cooled state for about 3 days .

Doctors currently do not know why this seems to work, but their hypothesis is that this cooling causes the metabolism of the baby to slow down drastically. This slowing down of the baby's metabolism would therefore reduce the amount of oxygen needed during that timeframe. This would then allow the baby's brain a chance to recover and heal, before being brought back to a normal oxygen requirements and body temperature. This research has just receive 1 million pounds from the Medical Research Council.