Therapeutic Hypothermia Saves Neurological Functions After Cardiac Arrest

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