Tin foil hats finally find a purpose: Cool-Cap baby cooling

The FDA has just lent its stamp of approval to the new Olympic Cool-Cap from Olympic Medical of Seattle. The shiny little hat is designed to help treat hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE -- yeah, we never heard of it either) in newborn infants. It's a potentially fatal injury to the brain caused by low levels of oxygen, and kills 20-25 percent of its victims, with 25 percent suffering permanent disabilities. The Cool-Cap is designed to combat the condition by creating a steady flow of water in the cap to cool the baby's head. It's not as simple as it sounds, with a whole control system involved to monitor the kid, and a solid-state water cooler to deliver uber-precise temperatures to the cap. The foil of the cap is designed to minimize heat, which is great, since it turns out those tin foil hats of ours were never doing much good after all.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 24th 2006 5:56AM]

I, for one, welcome our stormtrooper-helmet wearing baby overlords.

[Kazy Posted Dec 24th 2006 6:20AM]

Gotta brainwash them while they're young!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 24th 2006 6:36AM]

hmm, we can achieve better overclocking results with this new device.

[Mugen Posted Dec 24th 2006 7:44AM]

wow, im working in HIE related research, thanks engadget for raising awareness

[kopas Posted Dec 24th 2006 8:20AM]

My first-born son suffered from HIE due to a trauma at birth. The cooling blanket and cap study at the Holden NICU of University of Michigan took him as an applicant. Although we still won't know if he suffers from any long term effects, my son is a completely healthy 3-month old thanks to this amazing technology. It's a crazy procedure. They actually put him in hypothermia for 72 hours. Thanks engadget for bringing some exposure to HIE and its tech!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 24th 2006 8:37AM]

"...with 25 percent suffering permanent disabilities."

Does that include the percentage that die? I think I'd consider that a permanent disability.. hmm..

[charles hamilton Posted Dec 24th 2006 11:45AM]

Democrats are cute when they are young.

[BrianA Posted Dec 24th 2006 12:08PM]

And when your baby is grown up and doesn't have the disease any more, use it on your PC :)

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 24th 2006 2:06PM]

Here is the patent for the device, found it a couple weeks ago.

http://www.google.com/patents?id=82YHAAAAEBAJ