30 Birth and Rebirth - Parental Experiences of Their Newborn Infants Treated with Hypothermia Following Perinatal Asphyxia

Abstract

Abstractswill discuss methodological aspects of establishing causal relationships between infant feeding and later health outcomes, the pros and cons of observational versus randomized trials, practical issues in conducting infant nutrition studies/trials and performing longterm follow-up studies. We will provide an overview of the wide range of non-invasive technologies available for the identification of biomarkers in infants (including metabolomic technologies (using multi-component NMR/GCMS/LCMS platforms), genetic analyses using buccal swabs, and in vivo magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy to measure metabolites in the liver and brain. We know that many events in the perinatal period have lifelong health implications. Work from animal models, and limited human data, suggest that deleterious long-term outcomes could be prevented by intervention in the neonatal period. While many studies of early life interventions are currently ongoing, outcome measures have to be in the short to medium term, even though the greatest impact of these interventions may not become apparent until well into adulthood. We are currently looking for biomarkers which can be measured non-invasively in the short term, but which have a strong association with long term outcome and may therefore provide indications of what the long-term effect of our experimental intervention may be. Methods currently being investigated include metabolomic technologies (using multi-component NMR/GCMS/ LCMS platforms), genetic analysis using buccal swabs; in vivo magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy to measure metabolites in the liver and brain. This lecture will provide an overview of the pathophysiology of severe traumatic brain injury in children and the intensive care management of a child with severe TBI, focusing on the new WFPICS guidance (2012) and tiers of evidence. It will then present evidence for the nursing management of these children. The normal caring and nursing of newborn infants is to keep them warm and close to their parents. Fullterm newborn infants suffering from perinatal asphyxia are treated with induced hypothermia treatment (IHT) for three days at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in order to prevent or decrease brain damages. The design of the study was a descriptive qualitative study. The aim was to describe and understand experiences of parents whose newborn infants were treated with IHT following perinatal asphyxia. A total of ten parents participated in the study, seven mothers and three fathers. Open-ended recorded interviews were conducted 4-12 months after the birth of their infants. Inductive content analysis 28 29 30 3 had significantly lower day 0 PI values compared to Group 1 and 2 (p=0.008). PI values of Group 3 increased after ibuprofen treatment and became similar to Group 1 and 2 after PDA closure on the postnatal days 2 and 3. Conclusion PI values of infants with hemodynamically significant PDA were lower at postnatal day 0 and with ibuprofen treatment; PI values increased to levels of infant...