• Accomplishments
• Contact

• Research
• Spinal Cord Injury Projects
• Traumatic Brain Injury Projects
  • Assessment & Intervention for Mild TBI
  • Can Eye Movements Predict Persistent Problems in Paediatric Mild TBI?
  • Cognitive Neuroscience of Maladaptive Behaviours in Adolescents with Traumatic Brain Injury
  • DECRA Trial (DECompressive CRAniectomy Trial)
  • Enhancing Neurogenesis Post -TBI
  • Fluid Resuscitation in TBI
  • Headstart: Multi-family Groups for Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Hypothermia in Childhood TBI (HiTBIC)
  • Improving the functional communication ability of adults with TBI
  • In Vivo Hippocampal Studies in Rats
  • Long term consequences of childhood head injury - 15 year follow-up
  • Measuring the Impact of TBI on People's Lives
  • Mobility Following Childhood TBI
  • New Treatments for Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries
  • Neural Basis of Communication Disorder in Children
  • Neurotrauma Tissue/Fluid Bank
  • Normoglycaemia in Intensive Care Traumatic Brain Injury Study (NICE-TBI)
  • Preventing Neuronal Cell Death Following Brain Trauma
  • Prevention and Treatment of Social Problems Following TBI
  • Rehabilitation of Attention Following TBI
  • Role of Tissue Type Plasminogen Activator
  • TBI in Older Adults
  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Treatment in Depression After Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Traumatic Hypoxia and Cerebral Inflammation
  • Virtual Reality and Upper Limb Function Following TBI in Children
• Targeted Initiatives
• Completed TBI and SCI Projects
• Program Grants

Hypothermia in Childhood TBI (HiTBIC)

Hypothermia in Traumatic Brain Injury in Children (HiTBIC)

Chief Investigator: Dr John Beca
Other Investigators: A/Prof Warwick Butt, Dr Simon Erickson, Dr Barry Wilkins, Dr Andreas Schibler, Dr Michael Yung, Dr Andrew Numa, Dr Christian Stocker
Lead Organisation: Royal Children’s Hospital
VNI Funding: $205,524
Project Start Date: 01-Jul-07

Project Summary:
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death in childhood and exceeds all other causes combined. Approximately 40-60% of children either die or are left with severe disability. Survivors of severe injuries commonly have multiple life long disabilities. Most are not able to hold down a job as adults. Hypothermia or cooling has been shown to protect the brain and reduce damage from a variety of causes. Longer periods of cooling may also be better than shorter periods. To do a study capable of determining whether early and prolonged hypothermia is beneficial would require approximately 450 children.

The objective is to undertake a pilot study of 50 children admitted to paediatric intensive care with severe TBI in Australia and New Zealand. Half of the participants will be cooled to 32-33oC for 72 hours and then slowly rewarmed. The remaining participants will have their temperature maintained at 36-37oC. Neurological outcome will be assessed at 6 and 12 months after the injury. The rate of complications due to cooling will also be assessed. The purpose of this pilot study is to establish the feasibility and safety of undertaking a larger study with other international centres to determine whether early prolonged cooling increases the proportion of children with good outcome.