This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows:

To determine the effect of allopurinol on mortality and morbidity in term and near‐term newborn infants with suspected hypoxic‐ischaemic encephalopathy.

The following subgroup analyses are planned:
1. Trials that assessed allopurinol as a sole therapy.
2. Trials of allopurinol as an adjunct to an another therapy.
2. Trials where participants were predominantly (more than 80%) infants with moderate or severe encephalopathy (Sarnat 1976).