Relationship between temperature variability and brain injury on magnetic resonance imaging in cooled newborn infants after perinatal asphyxia

Objective:the objective of the study was whether temperature management during therapeutic hypothermia correlates with the severity of brain injury assessed on magnetic resonance imaging in term infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.study design:prospectively collected register data from the national asphyxia and cooling register of switzerland were analyzed.result:fifty-five newborn infants were cooled for 72 h with a target temperature range of 33 to 34 °c. individual temperature variability (odds ratio (or) 40.17 (95% confidence interval (ci) 1.37 to 1037.67)) and percentage of temperatures within the target range (or 0.95 (95% ci 0.90 to 0.98)) were associated with the severity of brain injury seen on magnetic resonance imaging (mri). neither the percentage of measured temperatures above (or 1.08 (95% ci 0.96 to 1.21)) nor below (or 0.99 (95% ci 0.92 to 1.07) the target range was associated with the severity of brain injury seen on mri.conclusion:in a national perinatal asphyxia cohort, temperature variability and percentage of temperatures within the target temperature range were associated with the severity of brain injury.