• Anne Lee Solevåg and Britt Nakstad.
• Department of Child and Adolescent Medicine, Akershus University Hospital, Norway. a.l.solevag@medisin.uio.no
• Tidsskr. Nor. Laegeforen. 2012 Nov 12; 132 (21): 2396-9.

BackgroundPerinatal asphyxia can cause serious illness or death. By taking steps in the «latent phase», which occurs 6-24 hours after the hypoxic event, the neurological damage caused by perinatal asphyxia can be limited. We wish to present a selection of such measures that are either established treatment today or that appear promising.MethodWe searched in the Medline and Cochrane Library databases for options for treating perinatal asphyxia.ResultsAn overwhelming number of potential treatments were identified. From among them we selected 44 indexed, peer-reviewed original articles in English on strategies for neuroprotective treatment after perinatal asphyxia. The treatments target different cellular mechanisms that cause neurological damage following perinatal asphyxia. In randomised clinical trials, only hypothermia treatment has improved the long-term outcome for newborns with perinatal asphyxia. Xenon gas, erythropoeitin and allopurinol are undergoing clinical testing.InterpretationThe efficacy of xenon gas, erythropoeitin and allopurinol in combination with the established treatment form of hypothermia must be studied more closely. Antioxidants, stem cell treatment and DNA repair mechanisms can pave the way for new opportunities in the future.

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