Heinrick's HIE Therapeutic Hypothermia Calculator

All term infants (>36 weeks gestation) should be screened for cooling if admitted to the NICU with an admitting diagnosis of acute perinatal asphyxia, neonatal depression, encephalopathy, and/or fetal acidemia.

Infants <6 hours of age should be evaluated by clinical and biochemical criteria and followed by neurological examination. Both inborn and outborn infants should be evaluated. Do not delay cooling for the infant.

Question 1 · Gestational Age & Timing

Is the neonate ≥35 weeks gestational age and less than 6 hours old?

To ensure compliance with defined entry criteria and consistency among examiners, all physician examiners should meet a standardized certification process. Every attempt should be made to withhold medications that may alter the examination (e.g., versed, fentanyl) until after the exam is completed, unless imperative for clinical care.

Exam Item 1

Clinical concern for Seizures?

About This Tool

Background

This tool was developed using research enrollment criteria from the study, "Evaluation of Systemic Hypothermia Initiated After 6 Hours of Age in Infants 36 Weeks Gestation with Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: A Bayesian Evaluation" from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) research network, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Intended Use

This tool should be used as a guide by an appropriately skilled health practitioner to determine the possibility of using therapeutic hypothermia to treat hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) at a facility capable of performing this service. If a practitioner feels that a neonate could be at risk of HIE, the nearest appropriate facility should be contacted for consultation.

Developer

The original code for this website and its companion iOS mobile application was developed by Dr. J. Ryan Heinrick MD during Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina from 2015–2018.

Dr. Heinrick is a Clinical Assistant Professor, Clinical Series, Child Health, Division of Critical Care at University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.

For questions or comments: heinrick@hietool.org

Related Tools

Another web-based application by Dr. Heinrick for use in the newborn nursery and NICU is the Transcutaneous Bilirubin Tool (TCBTool), available at www.tcbtool.org.

Technology

HTML5 CSS3 JavaScript iOS / Swift Google Analytics 4

2025 Redesign

The 2025 modernization of this tool — responsive layout, accessibility improvements, and code cleanup — was developed with assistance from Claude, an AI assistant made by Anthropic. Because even neonatologists need a good AI on their team. 🤖