Passive cooling to initiate hypothermia for transported encephalopathic newborns.

Two newborns at high risk for severe encephalopathy were passively cooled by discontinuing the supplied heat from a radiant warmer. Cooling was attempted in both babies (successfully in one) before the arrival of the neonatal transport team. Both infants had core temperatures of approximately 34 degrees C on arrival at the NICU. Passive cooling may be an effective method to initiate cooling very early in the course of encephalopathy.