Thursday, April 19, 2012SHARON, Pa. – Sharon Regional Health System has joined a small number of hospitals across the United States that offer an innovative procedure designed to protect brain function and increase survival rates in patients resuscitated after a cardiac arrest.
The procedure, known as therapeutic hypothermia, is a treatment technique that lowers the body temperature from the normal 98.6 degree Fahrenheit to between 90 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit for a period of 12 to 24 hours. The patient then undergoes a process of gradual rewarming until the temperature returns to a normal 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
During a cardiac arrest, blood flow to the brain stops, cutting off its oxygen supply and causing cell damage. The cooling process through therapeutic hypothermia protects the brain and other vital organs by slowing down the body’s metabolism, reducing its need for oxygen, and decreasing the brain’s demand for blood flow. This helps minimize brain damage.
The availability of therapeutic hypothermia gives cardiac arrest patients greater opportunities to recover with normal brain function, said James Ryan, M.D., board certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Heart and Vascular Institute at Sharon Regional. “We’re extremely proud of the advanced capabilities we offer here at Sharon Regional for our heart patients, especially those who have suffered a cardiac arrest,” he said. “Through the use of therapeutic hypothermia, we now bring those patients access to yet another advanced procedure that typically would be found only at large hospitals or academic medical centers.”
The process of cooling a patient’s body to the recommended temperature is done through a variety of techniques, including the use of cooling wraps, ice packs, or the use of chilled fluids given intravenously. Patients are given special medications to prevent shivering, which can delay the cooling process. The rewarming process is generally done over a 12-hour period until the body temperature returns to normal.
A team from Sharon Regional’s EMS Educational Institute, including medical director David Shellenbarger, M.D., has met with local ambulance services and other pre-hospital providers to provide specialized training in initiating therapeutic hypothermia in the field.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.