CBS 2: Cedars-Sinai Launches First Neuro NICU in LA Region
CBS 2 recently interviewed Rangasamy Ramanathan, MD, director of the Division of Neonatology at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s, about the medical center’s launch of the first Neuro Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Neuro NICU) in the Los Angeles region.
The Neuro NICU brings together pediatric specialists across multiple disciplines to provide coordinated care for newborns with complex neurological conditions, including congenital brain malformations, stroke, and diminished oxygen or blood flow to the brain. These conditions require rapid diagnosis and treatment to help improve outcomes.
Ramanathan described one of these conditions, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, which is caused by a lack of oxygen or blood flow to the brain around the time of birth. Babies diagnosed with the condition should begin cooling therapy within six hours of birth to achieve the greatest benefit.
“Time is very crucial for intervention,” he told CBS LA Mornings co-host Sheba Turk.
Ramanathan explained the Neuro NICU team of specialists includes neonatologists, neurologists and neuroradiologists. Geneticists also play an important role in the Neuro NICU because roughly 40% of babies with neurological problems have an underlying genetic cause, and Guerin Children’s is “one of the few centers in L.A. that offers genetic testing of the baby, mom and the dad.”
Identifying an underlying genetic mutation can help physicians personalize treatment, Ramanathan said.
“Once we know what the genetic makeup of the mutation is, we can target the therapy,” he told Turk.
Ramanathan said every baby born at Cedars-Sinai or transferred to the Neuro NICU from a hospital in the region receives the same level of care. When needed, follow-up care with Cedars-Sinai specialists can continue for life, particularly for patients with additional conditions, such as congenital heart disease.
“A baby comes there, they don’t have to go anywhere else,” Ramanathan told Turk. “They can come to all the specialists that they need to see.”
Watch the complete segment from CBS 2.