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Parkland innovates ‘cool’ technology A blanket that cools may sound like an oxymoron, but that’s exactly what Parkland’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is using to help save the tiniest patients. Cooling the whole-body temperature of babies who have suffered oxygen deprivation at birth is standard care at Parkland and can help prevent potential brain damage, harm to vital organs or possibly death. When severe oxygen or blood deprivation occurs in infants it’s called hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Infants with HIE are placed on cooling blankets within the first six hours of birth, lowering the body temperature to about 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit for 72 hours. This technique helps prevent further damage to critical organs. While being cooled, the babies’ heart rates and blood pressure are monitored continuously. Then, they are slowly warmed to normal body temperature. First in Dallas to use this technique, Parkland’s neonate experts have used the cooling blanket on 118 babies since 2005 and continue to look for innovative ways to improve the lives of HIE babies. In fact they are currently looking at possible benefits for cooling babies “with HIE who are identified between 6 and 24 hours of age,” said Pablo J. Sánchez, MD, neonatologist at Parkland. |
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