Complications During Therapeutic Hypothermia After Perinatal Asphyxia: A Comparison with Trial Data

Complications of therapeutic hypothermia (HT) after perinatal asphyxia of a cohort of infants were compared with complications reported in the Cochrane review. The occurrence during moderate HT of bradycardia, arrhythmia, hypotension, use of inotropes, pulmonary hypertension requiring NO inhalation, air leak syndrome, elevated liver enzymes, necrotizing enterocolitis, sepsis, oliguria, thrombocytopenia, coagulopathy, and electrolyte disturbances was assessed in 168 infants with therapeutic HT following perinatal asphyxia and compared to the incidence of complications published previously in the Cochrane review. In our cohort, mortality and adverse neurodevelopmental outcome were 31% and 6%, respectively, and not different from previously published studies. Nine out of 12 complications occurred more often in our cohort, one complication (oliguria) less often compared to previous results. The incidence of bradycardia and subcutaneous fat necrosis was not significantly different from previous reports. Complications during therapeutic HT in our cohort of infants occurred more often than reported previously. A detailed evaluation of possible complications is relevant for optimal monitoring during therapeutic HT.