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Cooled brain cells

Rigshospitalet was one of the first hospitals to introduce a new treatment involving cooling of newborns suffering from anoxaemia during birth. Cooling treatments are effective and very successful and may prevent brain damage in baby patients.

Cooling the body down to between 0 and 1.1 degrees Celcius may have considerable effect on a patient with severe anoxaemia. By lowering the body temperature for a period of between 24 and 72 hours, the decomposition of braincells caused by severe anoxaemia, is slowed down.

Brain damage can be avoided
Currently this treatment is not merely being used on adults who have suffered cardiac arrest but also newborns who lacked oxygen during birth. Both patient types risk severe brain damage and the cooling down may reduce this risk and in best-case scenarios even completely avert it.

The results of the new treatment are extremely positive and Rigshospitalet aims at being able to treat about 50 adults and 15-20 newborns with cooling every year.