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In a recent randomized trial (JW Pediatr Adolesc Med Oct 7 2009), whole-body hypothermia did not lower mortality in asphyxiated term newborns but did lead to better neurological outcomes compared with traditional neonatal intensive care. To further examine the effect of hypothermia, researchers compared cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans obtained from about half the infants in that trial.
Images were obtained for 131 infants at a median age of 8 days (infants were born at >37 weeks' gestation). In univariate analysis, cooling was significantly associated with a reduction in abnormalities in the basal ganglia and thalamus, white matter, and posterior limb of internal capsule, compared with no cooling. Cooled infants were more lik…