Current and potentially new management strategies for perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Thus, the therapeutic dilemma that confronts physicians in the management of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in the newborn infant is not entirely bleak. As new modalities of therapy for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy may soon be available for clinical use, it is hoped that the use of prospective therapeutic agents initially will be scrutinized through experimental trials adequate to determine their efficacy in the clinical setting. Only through the conduct of such trials will physicians avoid the pitfalls of routinely treating newborn infants with inappropriate drugs, as has occasionally occurred in the past.