Abstract
There are accumulating data which demonstrate the usefulness of brain hypothermia for the treatment of severe traumatic brain injury and hypoxic encephalopathy in children and neonates. We herein report the successful treatment of postresuscitative encephalopathy in a 57-day-old male with mild brain hypothermia. The patient was admitted to our pediatric ICU (PICU) after resuscitation due to out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest. He had a flat electroencepharography (EEG), no light reflex, and no spontaneous respiration on admission. Head cooling was immediately initiated and his esophageal temperature was maintained at 34°C for 72 hours. After this cooling period, he was then slowly rewarmed at a rate of 1°C·day−1. His light reflex emerged on the next day after resuscitation, EEG became normal on hospital day 8, the trachea was extubated on day 14, and he was discharged from the PICU on day 16 and from the hospital on day 43. He became possible to sit almost alone at 9 months of age. No serious adverse effects were observed during mild brain hypothermia. Mild hypothermia is therefore considered to be a safe treatment strategy and modality, and it might have contributed to the favorable neurological outcome of this patient.
