But what about stroke survivors? I've written 30 posts on this with conflicting results. Which way is your doctor and hospital leaning? Any stroke protocol at all? You'll have to ask ahead of time since you may not be in cognitive shape to ask for it in the middle of your stroke. And they would need the cooling implements already at the hospital unless it is winter and they can toss you in a snowbank.
http://dgnews.docguide.com/therapeutic-hypothermia-saves-neurological-functions-after-cardiac-arrest?
Survivors of cardiac arrest who remain in comas have better survival
and neurological outcomes when their body temperatures are lowered,
according to a study published in the journal Circulation.
Previous studies have shown the therapy effective on patients with
shockable heart rhythms like ventricular fibrillation. However, the
current study demonstrates that it’s also effective on patients with
non-shockable rhythms when there is no pulse and the patient is in a
coma.
“Prior to our study, there was minimal data to support the use of
this treatment on patients with non-shockable rhythms,” Sarah Perman,
MD, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado. “As a
result, the therapy was not widely used with these patients.”
For the study, the researchers looked at data from 519 patients who
had non-shockable heart rhythms between 2000 and 2013. They found that
those who received therapeutic hypothermia were 2.8 times as likely to
survive to be discharged from the hospital and 3.5 times more likely to
have better neurological outcomes (returning to their baseline mental
state) than those who did not have the treatment.
Physicians who use the technique employ cooling wraps to drop the
patients' temperature from approximately 37 degrees Celsius to 33
degrees Celsius. The therapy has shown to reduce damage to the brain
following a cardiac arrest, though scientists continue to investigate
why this occurs.
Landmark trials in 2002 studying shockable patients found that 49% of
those who received therapeutic hypothermia had good neurological
outcomes as opposed to 26% who did not receive the treatment. Another
trial showed 55% of patients with good neurological outcome against 39%
who didn’t have the therapy.
“Neurologic injury after cardiac arrest is devastating,” said Dr.
Perman. “We have one chance to give some form of neuroprotection, and
that's immediately after the arrest.”
She said therapeutic hypothermia should be more widely used in comatose patients to protect neurological function.
“We know that patients benefit from this therapy,” said Dr. Perman,
noting the importance of delivering meaningful research from the
laboratory directly to the patient. “Therefore, one of our next
challenges is to tailor the hypothermia treatment to the patient’s
specific injury in order to improve outcomes further.”
SOURCE: University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
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