• Kotaro Hine, Shigeharu Hosono, Ken Kawabata, Hiroshi Miyabayashi, Keichi Kanno, Masaki Shimizu, and Shori Takahashi.
• Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Nihon University School of Medicine, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan.
• Pediatr Int. 2017 Jan 1; 59 (1): 29-33.

BackgroundRectal temperature is commonly used as the core temperature during therapeutic hypothermia therapy in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). The purpose of this study was to examine whether nasopharyngeal temperature could serve as a substitute for rectal temperature.MethodsWe prospectively investigated 40 neonates with HIE who underwent therapeutic hypothermia by selective head cooling, which involved cooling the body to 34°C for 72 h. During this period, nasopharyngeal temperature was measured and compared with rectal temperature every hour.ResultsFor 40 neonates included in this study, the mean rectal and nasopharyngeal temperatures were 34.3 ± 0.4°C (n = 2920) and 34.3 ± 0.4°C (n = 2920), respectively. Nasopharyngeal temperature strongly correlated with rectal temperature (R(2) = 0.623, P < 0.0001) and magnitude of the mean difference between nasopharyngeal and rectal temperature varied little during the 72 h of therapeutic hypothermia.ConclusionsNasopharyngeal temperature in neonates with perinatal HIE undergoing therapeutic hypothermia may be a suitable substitute for rectal temperature.© 2016 Japan Pediatric Society.

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