Cold Cap Therapy For Newborns

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.

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. Many neonatal intensive care units have now adopted this therapy for full term infants who show signs of brain dysfunction from low oxygen. This treatment is known as hypothermia therapy but it has many other names such as therapeutic hypothermia cooling therapy and neonatal cooling hypothermia therapy involves cooling the baby down to a temperature below homeostasis to allow the brain to recover from a hypoxic ischemic injury. Typically cold cap therapy costs around 400 per session.

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. 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. Because the caps are so cold some women get a headache while wearing the cap. The doctors and nurses were all very impressed with the results of the cold caps.

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. The treatment reduces the infant s temperature as low as 91 4 f and maintains it there for 72 hours. At this time some medical insurance companies don t cover the cost of cold cap therapy. Depending on the situation cooling therapy may cool only the baby s head or the entire body.

Women who use cold caps or scalp cooling systems during chemotherapy are advised to baby their hair during treatment. It is a big. Cooling therapy uses devices like a purpose made cap special blanket or mattress that cools the newborn at a controlled level. Caregivers then allow the infant s body temperature to return to normal.