Mission

 

The Neonatal Asphyxia Project Team’s mission is to find a smart, low-cost treatment for neonatal asphyxia.

 

Background

 

The Neonatal Asphyxia Project Team was founded with the intention of finding a smart, low-cost treatment option for asphyxia in newborn infants.  Neonatal asphyxia is the medical condition resulting from oxygen deprivation to a newborn infant that lasts long enough during the birth process to cause physical harm, usually to the brain.  It is estimated that over 900,000 infants die each year from neonatal asphyxia, but existing therapies are primitive and still in early stages of development.  This makes neonatal asphyxia a leading cause of death for newborns, especially in underdeveloped regions in Central and Latin America. Research has shown that the metabolism of the cells in a newborn’s brain can be slowed down by cooling the internal body temperature for 72 hours following birth.  Slowing the metabolism of the brain prevents toxins from injured cells from spreading to other parts of the brain.  This method, called hypothermia therapy, has been proven to reduce the damaging effects of neonatal asphyxia, which include various developmental disorders and more than twenty percent of all cerebral palsy cases. Research has also shown that hypothermia therapy can help treat cardiac arrest patients and individuals with miscellaneous head traumas.