According to WQOW TV, St. Cloud Hospital has successfully cooled an infant to prevent or reduce the severity of brain injury. It is believed to be the first time a hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit has been able to reduce brain injury through the brain cooling method.
Oliver Manlove, son of Renee and Kenny Manlove, was delivered full term but was deprived of oxygen during birth. He was transferred by helicopter to St. Loud Hospital for cooling. The NICU team utilized the total body cooling therapy.
Therapeutic body cooling or hypothermia has been used at St. Cloud Hospital since 2005 to treat adult cardiac arrest patients. Cooling an infant can reduce the severity of a brain injury. Brain injuries during birth can result in life-long complications such as cerebral palsy, as well as developmental problems. Doctors start to cool an infant as soon as possible, the sooner a baby is cooled, the better the outcome. In Oliver’s case, the doctor cooled him for 72 hours, and then gradually re-warmed.
Therapeutic hypothermia protects the brain, increasing the likelihood of survival and minimizing the neurological damage that can result from a brain injury. A patient’s body temperature is lowered to 92.3 Fahrenheit, which temporarily reduces the brain’s need for oxygen. The NICU induces hypothermia non-invasively by circulating water through heat-conducting pads attached to an infant. The device monitors temperature while adjusting the water to precisely cool to a certain temperature and then gradually re-warms.
