الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Acute neonatal encephalopathy (NE) due to perinatal hypoxia–ischemia is one of the leading causes of neonatal mortality worldwide. A gold standard definition of birth asphyxia does not exist. The WHO (World Health Organization) has defined perinatal asphyxia as a failure to initiate and sustain breathing at birth.
There has long been a search for therapies that can either prevent injury progression or enhance repair of the immature brain, hopefully improving long-term motor and behavioral outcomes.
Hypothermia induced by whole body cooling and selective head cooling reduces brain injury after hypoxia-ischemia in newborn. Hypothermia may protect neurons by reducing cerebral metabolic rate, attenuating the release of excitatory amino acids (glutamate, dopamine), ameliorating the ischemia-impaired uptake of glutamate, and lowering the production of toxic nitric oxide and free radicals.
However, it does not completely protect or repair a brain that has been injured, subsequently, the search for adjuvant therapies that may provide long lasting neuroprotection was mandatory. Recently, the concurrent use of whole-body cooling and the prophylactic administration of anticonvulsants for synergistic neuroprotection have shown significant effects in many studies.