Cold Cap Therapy For Newborns

Cooling therapy uses devices like a purpose made cap special blanket or mattress that cools the newborn at a controlled level.

Cold cap therapy for newborns. A hypothermia cap also referred to as cold cap or cooling cap is a therapeutic device used to cool the human scalp its most prominent medical applications are in preventing or reducing alopecia in chemotherapy and for preventing cerebral palsy in babies born with neonatal encephalopathy caused by hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy hie it can also be used to provide neuroprotection after. It is a big. Pioneering cold cap saves baby from brain damage claire truscott and agencies. Because the caps are so cold some women get a headache while wearing the cap.

It is fantastic that after trials we know we now have a treatment that works. Caregivers then allow the infant s body temperature to return to normal. Penguin cold cap therapy is a drug free and non invasive scalp cooling process for a broad range of applications depending on suitability including minimizing hair loss reducing minor trauma swelling and managing migraine or headache. At this time some medical insurance companies don t cover the cost of cold cap therapy.

Typically cold cap therapy costs around 400 per session. The doctors and nurses were all very impressed with the results of the cold caps. Nancy marshall cofounder of the rapunzel project a minneapolis nonprofit that builds awareness of cold cap therapy tells self that feeling like yourself can mean everything during cancer treatment. Brain hypothermia induced by cooling a baby to around 33 c for three days after birth is a treatment for hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy it has recently been proven to be the only medical intervention which reduces brain damage and improves an infant s chance of survival and reduced disability hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy has many causes and is essentially the reduction in the supply.

The treatment reduces the infant s temperature as low as 91 4 f and maintains it there for 72 hours. Most women get very cold so it makes sense to dress warmly and bring warm blankets with you if you decide to try the cold caps. Many neonatal intensive care units have now adopted this therapy for full term infants who show signs of brain dysfunction from low oxygen. Women who use cold caps or scalp cooling systems during chemotherapy are advised to baby their hair during treatment.