快猫短视频

COOLING a person by only a few degrees greatly reduces the risk of permanent
brain damage if their heart stops beating.

鈥淭his is the first therapy that has been proven to be effective during or
after cardiac arrest,鈥� says Michael Holzer, who led the study. The technique
could soon become part of the routine treatment for victims.

In Europe, around 400,000 people a year suffer from cardiac arrest, in which
the heart stops beating effectively enough to sustain circulation and the person
collapses. If victims are not resuscitated within five minutes, those who
survive usually suffer brain damage as a result of oxygen deprivation. The
effects can range from mild memory problems and speech difficulties to permanent
coma.

Inducing hypothermia to slow metabolism has been used for decades to protect
the brain from the damaging effects of oxygen deprivation鈥攄uring heart
surgery, for example, or after strokes or brain injury. Now two teams, one based
in Europe and the other in Australia, have independently tested the technique on
victims of cardiac arrest.

The European trial was larger, involving 275 patients. Half were cooled to
about 33 掳C for 24 hours after admission, using a specially designed machine
that blows cool air over the patient. Over half of the cooled patients made a
good or moderate recovery, compared with 39 per cent of the uncooled patients.
鈥淲e also found an improvement in the mortality rate,鈥� says Holzer.

The smaller Australian study showed even more striking success, simply using
ice packs. Half of the patients made a good recovery compared with 26 per cent
of those treated normally.