Alternative Therapies

FDA has approved a first-of-a-kind head-cooling cap that can prevent or reduce brain damage in infants who are starved of oxygen at birth. This medical device is designed to help babies with moderate to severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a potentially fatal injury to the brain caused by low levels of oxygen.

The ‘Cool-Cap’, may help in cutting the rates of death and disability among an estimated 5,000 to 9,000 kids born each year. 20 percent of these infants die and a further 25 percent suffer permanent brain damage.

Cooling the body by a few degrees reduces the brain’s need for oxygen, and can resume blood flow. The cooling device made by Olympic Medical Corp. of Seattle, maintains a constant flow of chilled water through a cap placed on the newborn’s head. The head is cooled and the rest of the body is kept at slightly below normal temperature.

But the company must train and certify health care workers who want to use the device and restrict its use to patients who meet certain eligibility criteria.