Questions?Common HIE Treatment Methods
If your baby is suffering from hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), their doctor will likely recommend a treatment plan. It is important to make sure your child gets treated as soon as possible.
HIE means that oxygen flow to the baby’s brain has been cut off, which can cause cerebral palsy, epilepsy, developmental delays, or death. Treating HIE can lessen the damage and prove lifesaving.
Common HIE treatments include:
- Therapeutic hypothermia (cooling therapy)
- Medications for seizures, low blood pressure, and metabolic imbalances
- Oxygen therapy to help lessen brain damage and improve breathing
- Physical, occupational, and speech therapy for longer-term complications
- Those being studied in clinical trials
The most notable treatment for HIE is therapeutic hypothermia, which can protect the brain from further damage. Additional HIE treatments shown above may be used depending on how badly the condition has harmed a child and the type of injuries that have occurred.
Doctors have a duty to prevent serious birth injuries like HIE and recommend expert care for a newborn when the condition occurs. If your child has become seriously disabled or passed away as a result of HIE, it could be due to medical negligence.
Get a free case review now to pursue compensation and justice if your child developed HIE and required treatment.
HIE Cooling Treatment
Cooling therapy, also known as therapeutic hypothermia, is the most effective treatment for moderate to severe HIE. It works by slightly lowering the baby’s body temperature down to 92 degrees for up to 3 days. This prevents brain damage from worsening.
After this HIE treatment, your baby will be warmed back up slowly to prevent complications. Doctors also take imaging scans like MRIs to make sure your baby’s brain has responded to the cooling.
How effective cooling therapy is depends on a number of factors, including how soon this HIE treatment starts and the extent of the brain injury. For best results, it must be administered within 6 hours of birth. In some cases, babies who have experienced HIE can live a near-normal life thanks to this cooling therapy.
Oxygen Therapy as HIE Treatment
Oxygen therapy could help protect your baby’s brain after HIE and help reverse some of the damage. Your baby may receive oxygen through a ventilator, a gas called nitric oxide, or an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine.
Which type of oxygen therapy your child will need depends on their unique situation. ECMO machines are usually used in cases to support the heart and lungs, which could have suffered injury as a result of HIE.
Studies show that combining oxygen therapy with drugs that protect the brain can further reduce brain damage symptoms in newborns. Doctors continue to study this HIE treatment and how it can be used to help more babies.
Medications for Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy
Your doctor may recommend different medications to help your baby recover from HIE. These medications supplement major HIE treatments like cooling therapy and are used for various reasons.
Some help control notable symptoms of HIE like seizures, while others reduce inflammation, improve blood flow, or support brain function.
- Anti-inflammatory drugs: Some medications may help reduce brain swelling and protect brain cells.
- Blood pressure medications: Babies can experience low blood pressure following HIE. A medication called dopamine can increase blood pressure.
- Erythropoietin (EPO): This drug has been studied for its ability to support brain development.
- Melatonin: Known for its role in sleep, melatonin may also help protect brain cells following HIE.
- Seizure medications: Babies with HIE often have seizures, which can cause more damage. Anti-seizure medications like levetiracetam and phenobarbital can control or prevent them.
Many of these medications, including melatonin and EPO, are still being studied to determine how effective they are in treating HIE. Doctors can recommend the safest and most effective medications for your child.
Other Types of HIE Treatments
HIE not only damages the brain but also organs throughout the body in severe cases. As a result, your child could need additional HIE treatments to manage complications and help them recover.
- Blood transfusions for anemia
- Care for heart issues
- Dialysis for kidney damage
- Intravenous (IV) nutrition
- Life support for severe complications
HIE treatments can prove lifesaving, but in some cases, children still suffer lifelong impairments or pass away. Doctors have a duty not only to treat but also to prevent HIE. If they failed to do so, it could be considered medical negligence.
Speak to a registered nurse for free if you believe your child’s condition could have been prevented.
Beth has more than 18 years of specialized experience in labor and delivery. She’s available to hear your story and help you figure out the cause of your child’s injury — and what you can do next.
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Call or chat with a caring, experienced nurse right now — we’re standing by to get you help and answers.
Clinical Trials and New HIE Treatments
Doctors continue to study new ways to treat HIE and make existing therapies more effective through clinical trials being conducted around the world. Many of these studies are investigating therapies that can be used in addition to cooling therapy for HIE.
- Caffeine for HIE study: Caffeine has been shown to provide neural protection in animals suffering from HIE, so doctors want to see if it can help humans, too.
- COOL-SED study: Doctors want to see if a new drug called dexmedetomidine will be more effective than morphine in helping ease the discomfort caused by cooling therapy.
- SiSTEM NEO study: Researchers are looking to see how using stem cells following cooling therapy could help babies suffering from moderate to severe HIE. Other early studies suggest that umbilical cord blood stem cells may help with recovery.
A doctor can help determine if a clinical trial testing a newer treatment could help if your child is suffering from HIE.
How Successful Is Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy Treatment?
The prognosis for HIE depends on its severity, the timing of treatment, and the extent of brain damage. Your child has a better chance of fully recovering if HIE is diagnosed and treated within 6 hours after birth.
Babies can recover from mild cases of HIE that don’t involve brain damage in about 2 weeks time, according to Cleveland Clinic. However, it’s also possible to recover significantly even if a baby’s brain is damaged.
“Infants have a remarkable ability to heal from brain damage – more so than adults – so it can be difficult to speculate the extent of long-term cognitive or physical issues after a traumatic labor event.”
— Dr. Becky Ennis, pediatric specialist
While some children recover completely, others may experience long-term complications like cerebral palsy or epilepsy. Babies can still live a full life with these health issues, but may need ongoing care.
What Happens When HIE Is Left Untreated?
Doctors classify cases of HIE as either mild, moderate, or severe. Without treatment, any form of HIE can become severe and lead to life-threatening complications.
Potential complications of untreated HIE include:
- Different types of cerebral palsy
- Epilepsy and seizures
- Developmental delays
- Hearing or vision loss
- Death
Up to 80% of babies who suffer severe HIE experience permanent disabilities that require lifelong care. As a result, diagnosing this condition and getting prompt HIE treatment are crucial steps to protecting your child.
If you’re concerned, look for possible symptoms of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy in your child, such as fatigue, grey or bluish skin, lack of response to sound or touch, or seizures and see a doctor promptly. The symptoms can appear anywhere from a few hours to a few days after birth.
Compensation for Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy Treatment
While HIE treatments are essential for giving your child the best quality of life possible, they are also a sudden, unexpected expense. Treating HIE with cooling therapy costs $24,000 on average, and can be as expensive as $130,000 in some cases. This doesn’t account for the long-term costs if your child becomes disabled as a result of HIE. Fortunately, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy compensation may be available through the legal system.
The vast majority of HIE lawsuits reach out-of-court settlements, which are often worth millions of dollars. In one case, a family received $8.8 million after their child suffered from HIE, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy as a result of a delayed C-section — ensuring they could afford ongoing treatment.
The Birth Injury Justice Center can help determine if you can pursue compensation for HIE treatment expenses. Click to Live Chat now to get started.
Find and Afford Expert HIE Treatment
If your child has been diagnosed with HIE, getting expert medical care as soon as possible is critical. While each case is different, acting quickly can improve outcomes and provide the best chance for recovery.
Remember: your baby’s doctors had a duty to properly diagnose and treat HIE. If your child developed a disability like cerebral palsy as a result of HIE, it could mean that medical negligence has occurred.
You may be able to secure justice with the help of an HIE attorney, recovering much-needed financial compensation to afford care that can improve your child’s quality of life.
The Birth Injury Justice Center has partnered with experienced HIE lawyers who stand ready to assist families in all 50 states. To date, our network of lawyers has recovered over $1 billion for families harmed by HIE and other birth injuries, and are ready to help your family, too.
Call (800) 914-1562 now or fill out our free legal case review form to learn if we may be able to help you seek compensation for HIE treatments.
Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy Treatment FAQs
The best HIE treatment is therapeutic hypothermia, or whole-body cooling. HIE causes brain damage, but whole-body cooling prevents it from getting worse by lowering your baby’s body temperature. Doctors closely monitor your baby’s health for a few days before slowly warming them back up.
From there, additional follow-up testing can help determine the extent of the brain damage and if any additional HIE treatments are needed.
Some infants with mild HIE recover fully with body cooling. Babies with moderate or severe HIE can sometimes make a full recovery as well, but there’s no guarantee.
If your child develops a health complication like cerebral palsy as a result of HIE-related brain damage, ongoing HIE treatment can help manage it.
Currently, there is no cure for every case of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. The main treatment for HIE is whole-body cooling, which stops the brain from suffering more damage.
If successful, body cooling for HIE and other supplemental treatments like medication and oxygen therapy can significantly improve your baby’s outcome, particularly in mild cases of the condition.
Get a free case review for help finding and affording HIE treatments that could help if your child suffers from this condition.
In some cases, HIE can be prevented by closely monitoring the baby’s health before and during birth. Doctors should monitor risk factors like preeclampsia, placental abruption, umbilical cord issues, and birth asphyxia.
If they suspect the mother or baby is in danger, they should intervene by performing a C-section, or with resuscitation, and proper fetal monitoring.
But medical negligence can sometimes lead to HIE. If doctors don’t act quickly when a baby shows signs of distress, like an abnormal heart rate or difficulty breathing, it can result in moderate or severe HIE.
In some cases, health care providers can be held responsible for failing to prevent avoidable birth injuries.
