Fw: Hospitals pioneer freezing therapy for trauma patients

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Ron

09/28/2010

Researchers are readying the first human trials of a new technique to

induce extreme hypothermia in trauma patients, which would give surgeons more

time to perform life-saving operations, TIME reports.

The treatment is being developed at Boston's Harvard Medical School and

Massachusetts General Hospital. Using the therapy, researchers will cool

patients' bodies to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, partly by replacing a patient's

blood with a cold saline solution to rapidly chill body temperatures and cause

tissues to shut down. Although this normally would lead to brain death after

several minutes-as cells begin to produce dangerous toxins at low oxygen

levels-the body's rapid cooling means " cells are essentially put into a state of

suspended animation that prevents this from happening, " the Daily Telegraph

reports.

According to Dr. Hasan Alam, the Massachusetts General surgeon leading the

research, trauma patients already tend to present at the hospital in critical

condition, so rapidly cooling their bodies can protect patients' vital organs

from further damage (see related coverage in the August 30 Daily Briefing).

Noting that animal trials of the technique had proven successful, Alam added

that the procedure could give surgeons as much as three hours to perform major

surgery, compared to the handful of minutes most trauma surgeons have to

operate. The technique " can convert almost certain death into a 90% survival

rate, " according to Alam (Gibson, TIME, 9/27, Gray, Daily Telegraph, 9/26).