Perinatal asphyxia (PA) is the 3rd most common cause of neonatal death and one of the most common causes of severe neurological impairments in children.

Current tools and measurements mainly based on the analysis of clinical evaluation and laboratory and electrophysiological tests do not give consistent data allowing to predict the severity of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) until a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) score is performed.

The aim of this work is to evaluate the usefulness of the new index, called Thermal Index (TI) in the assessment of the degree of brain damage in newborns in the course of therapeutic hypothermia (TH) due to PA.

This was a prospective, observational, pilot study which did not require any changes in the applicable procedures.