I have been reading about head cooling as a prophylaxis for HIE. As this is a new treatment modality I was wondering if anyone using it has developed a protocol for caring for the infant during this treatment and if so, would you be willing to share the protocol with 99NICU? What problems have you encountered and how have you addressed them? How about issues with the parents during the treatment?

As many of us are anxiously awaiting the implementation of this treatment where we work, I am fairly certain everyone would appreciate all information which can be shared.

We are just starting to do total body cooling rather than head cooling. Using wraps rather than matresses so parents are still able to interact/ hold babies -just need to take care of CFM probes. Main problem arises from thickened oro-pharyngeal secretions which then become increasingly problematic during rewarming. We are currently putting together clinical guidelines using advice from Bristol who were pioneers of TBC in UK.

Hi try this website, its a New Zealand website to the Nicu guidelines they are fantastic resource while i worked there they started using body cooling and it was used quite a few times. Hope it helps.

http://www.adhb.govt.nz/newborn/Guidelines/Neurology/CoolingOverview.htm