Therapeutic hypothermia for infants with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy: A five years' single center experience in Kuwait.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the effect of therapeutic hypothermia (TH) on brain MRI findings, neurological outcome, and mortality in patients with perinatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and compare between two modalities of TH: whole body cooling (WBC) and selective head cooling (SHC).

Patients And Methods: Sixty-two inborn babies with HIE admitted to the NICU of a Kuwaiti teaching hospital between 2006 and 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups: group 1 (2006-2008, n = 30) never received hypothermia, and group 2 (2009-2013, n = 32) treated with hypothermia.