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Hypothermia May Benefit Cardiac Patients: Study

Posted on: Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 09:01 CST

Hypothermia may benefit cardiac patients: study

OTTAWA, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Patients who receive hypothermia therapy after suffering a cardiac arrest are more likely to survive than those who do not, the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine (CAEP) claimed in its March issue.

The findings also suggest that cardiac arrest patients who undergo the treatment have better neurological outcomes than patients who do not.

The exact mechanism for the benefit of this therapy is unknown but lower temperatures seem to slow down the activity of brain cells during a time when they are very vulnerable, said Dr. Dan Howes, a critical care specialist at Kingston General Hospital in Ontario.

There was now "enough evidence and consensus among the experts for this to become a recommended treatment", said Howes.

The findings recommend therapeutic hypothermia for cardiac arrest patients who have been resuscitated, but are still unconscious.

At Kingston General Hospital, where therapeutic hypothermia has been used for the past three years, about 30 patients have been treated so far.

The published success rates appear to show that four of those patients who would otherwise have died, managed to survive, and survivors suffered less brain damage than they would have without the therapy.

"This therapy is not just about saving a life, but trying to bring a patient back as the same person they were before the cardiac arrest," Howes said.

Howes and Robert Green, a doctor in Dalhousie University in Halifax, reviewed evidence for the study, which was conducted by a group of emergency physicians, critical care specialists, cardiologists and neurologists.

The CAEP is a national advocacy and professional development organization representing 1,750 of Canada's emergency physicians.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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