Affiliations: Department of Critical Care Medicine, Children's
Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, USA | Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, PA, USA | Department of Children's Rehabilitation Services,
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Note: [] Corresponding author: Ericka L. Fink, MD, Department of Critical
Care Medicine, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, 4401 Penn Avenue,
Faculty Pavilion, 2nd floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, USA. E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: Acquired brain injury from traumatic brain injury, cardiac arrest
(CA), stroke, and central nervous system infection is a leading cause of
morbidity and mortality in the pediatric population and reason for admission to
inpatient rehabilitation. Therapeutic hypothermia is the only intervention
shown to have efficacy from bench to bedside in improving neurological outcome
after birth asphyxia and adult arrhythmia-induced CA, thought to be due to its
multiple mechanisms of action. Research to determine if therapeutic hypothermia
should be applied to other causes of brain injury and how to best apply it is
underway in children and adults. Changes in clinical practice in the
hospitalized brain-injured child may have effects on rehabilitation referral
practices, goals and strategies of therapies offered, and may increase the
degree of complex medical problems seen in children referred to inpatient
rehabilitation.
