title: Therapeutic hypothermia for neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is associated with short-term reduction of seizures after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Therapeutic hypothermia for the treatment of moderate to severe neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy has been shown to reduce death and disability, but the effects on seizures after discharge from the Neonatal ICU are not known.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective cohort study was conducted involving 56 neonates admitted to the Neonatal ICU at Children's Hospital of Orange County, CA from January 1, 2007 to September 1, 2013 with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy who met criteria for selective brain cooling. Fifteen patients received supportive care. Forty-one patients received cooling, of whom 25 were included for analysis. Sixteen patients from the hypothermia group and 12 from the no hypothermia group developed clinical seizures while inpatient. Up to 6 months, four patients (16%) had continued seizures in the therapeutic hypothermia group compared to eight (53%) patients who did not receive hypothermia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study shows an association between therapeutic hypothermia and reduced seizures after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit. The short duration of follow-up, 6 months, is a limitation of this study. Another limitation is its observational nature, where reasons for treatment selection and exclusions are unmeasurable confounding factors. Further studies are needed to determine long-term effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Neurology, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA. suman.ghosh@ufl.edu.
authors.forename: Suman
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1036-3887
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Child Neurology, Children's Hospital of Orange County, University of California Irvine, Orange, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Lily
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Outcomes and Policy, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Shuster
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Child Neurology, Children's Hospital of Orange County, University of California Irvine, Orange, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Mary L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Zupanc
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007036:Hypothermia, Induced / Q000379:methods*; D020925:Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain / Q000150:complications*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D008297:Male; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012640:Seizures / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Brain injury; Epilepsy; Infant