女嬰出生17分鐘仍未呼吸 “冷凍”三天後未出現腦部損傷

A baby girl who didn't breathe for 17 minutes after birth was miraculously saved when doctors put her in a "fridge" for three days.

Sophie Fleet suffered complications at birth and swallowed fluids which caused a blockage in her airways and starved her brain of oxygen.

Doctors decided to lower Sophie's temperature from its normal 37C to 33.5C for three days in a bid to stop her brain swelling and causing brain damage.

Temperatures this low bring on hypothermia but in controlled conditions it reduces pressure on the brain, allowing it to recover from trauma.

Sophie had to wear a special "fridge" suit, which was pumped with water to keep her body cool.

Sophie's body was later warmed to normal temperature again over 12 hours.

She then had tests done which showed she had suffered mild brain damage.

Huw Jones, a consultant neonatologist at the hospital, said"This cooling treatment helps slow everything down and helps stop brain damage."

"Research and trials have shown it works and this is the optimum temperature to reduce that brain damage risk."

Doctors say only time will tell how the brain damage she suffered is going to affect her.

一名出生17分鐘後仍未呼吸的女嬰，經放在“冰箱”冷凍三天後，竟奇蹟般的存活了下來。

索菲•福利特出生時出現多種併發症，吸入了液體，堵住了氣管，大腦得不到充足氧氣。

醫生決定將其體溫從正常的37度降到33.5度，冷凍三天，防止腦部腫大和損傷。

這種溫度會導致體溫過低，然而控制得當，能減少對腦部的壓力，從疾病中恢復過來。索菲穿着一件特製的"冰凍"衣服，裏面有冰水流動以保持較低體溫。

12小時後，她的體溫又恢復到正常溫度，隨後的檢查顯示她只有輕微的腦部損傷。

醫院的新生兒科顧問休•瓊斯稱：“這種冷卻治療法能減緩人體新陳代謝，有效防止大腦損傷。”

“研究實驗表明這種方法確實有效，而33.5攝氏度正是減少腦部損傷危險的最佳溫度。”

醫生們稱索菲的腦部損傷究竟會對她造成何種影響還有待時日觀察。