Kerala - Kozhikode   

Pioneering research in neonatal care

Staff Reporter

Hypothermia treatment involves lowering of the body temperature of the newborn

KOZHIKODE: The pilot study results of a delicate procedure, Hypothermia treatment, for perinatal asphyxia in full-term babies could benefit public health care, even as studies are being conducted worldwide to combat mental retardation in such babies.

Kozhikode Medical College Hospital has a world record in the largest number of births. As many as 70 to 80 deliveries take place daily and the number of asphyxia cases are on the higher side. In the normal case, one in 1,000 live births are asphyxia babies.

Dr. Seetha Sankaran, director, Neonatal Medicine and Perinatal Medicine, Wayne State University, School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, United States, spoke to The Hindu about her findings through the Hypothermia treatment (whole body) which involved lowering of the body temperature of the newborn, as opposed to the current treatment in vogue.

Dr. Seetha recently delivered a lecture at Kozhikode Medical College on her research findings.

"The results of a pilot study that I conducted on prenatal/perinatal asphyxia when babies are born because of lack of oxygen, and in the process of being evaluated, has yielded positive results, even as the long term effect is being studied," she said.

While the mortality rate is high among this category of babies, mental retardation is the greatest risk that these newborns face.

"In the research, the therapy adopted is to lower the body temperature from 37 Fahrenheit to 33.5 Fahrenheit for 72 hours, using cooling blankets. The temperature is raised back slowly. Through such a method you can actually decrease or prevent brain damage," she explained.

Research

Research was conducted on 220 babies with severe birth asphyxia.

Half the babies received the Hypothermia treatment, while the others were kept in normal temperature.

"There was careful monitoring for 18 months. There was group reduction in the number who died or had cerebral palsy. There was 18 per cent reduction in cerebral palsy."

"The selection has to be careful. The benefits vis-à-vis risk has to be weighed so that the treatment is not hazardous to the newborn," Dr. Seetha said.

She has been conducting research in neonatal care since 1975. Her paper on Hypothermia treatment research findings was published in New England Journal of Medicine, October 2005.

Dr. Seetha is part of a multi-centre research network funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD) which has separate branches.

The NICHHD selects centres for conducting research once every five years. The School of Medicine where Dr. Seetha works was selected on the basis of the research protocol submitted by her. It has 17 specialisations in paediatrics alone and the number of asphyxia cases was just four to six a year.

Research studies were carried out on a wide scale in health care in the U.S. with specific focus on the care and protection of newborns.

She has addressed many fora on the efficacy of the new research findings in the U.S., South America, Brazil and Italy.

Dr. Seetha graduated from Madras Medical College. She did her specialisation in neonatal/perinatal paediatrics at the Down State Medical Centre, New York.

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