X-Message-Number: 12587
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 19:56:11 -0400
From: Jan Coetzee <>
Subject: Hypothermia

Device Induces Hypothermia To Treat Stroke Victims

 By Deena Beasley

 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hypothermia, the subnormal body temperature
feared by mountain
 climbers, may soon be induced with pinpoint accuracy to limit brain
damage in stroke and heart
 attack victims, according to some medical experts.

 Mild hypothermia helps reduce the damage caused by the lack of
nutrients and oxygen, as well
 as the release of toxins, that occurs when a blood clot or swelling
from trauma blocks blood
 flow to the brain.

 Diminished or obstructed blood flow can lead to death, paralysis,
blindness and speech
 problems.

 ``We feel, based on experiments, that this method of protecting brain
cells would widen
 opportunities for patients,'' Gary Steinberg, chairman of neurosurgery
at Stanford University, in
 Palo Alto, Calif., explained in a recent interview. ``We may be able to
prolong the window of
 time before damage occurs.''

 Currently, doctors can induce hypothermia in anesthetized, typically
pre-operative, patients
 through surface cooling with blankets or even external blood
recirculation pumps.

 But the techniques are slow, cumbersome to administer, involve risk of
cardiovascular side
 effects, and in the case of the external pump, extremely invasive.

 San Diego-based Innercool Therapies Inc. said it has developed a
disposable catheter tipped
 with a flexible metallic element and attached to a small cooling unit,
that can be used in both
 arteries and veins to precisely control cooling.

 ``According to the latest data, patients benefit when blood vessels are
opened within six to eight
 hours of a stroke,'' John Doback, M.D., Innercool's chief executive
officer, said.

 The company plans to begin human clinical trials of the cooling device
early next year.

 Recent animal studies show that Innercool's system can cool brain
tissue by five degrees
 Celsius within 30 to 60 minutes.

 Steinberg, one of the company's scientific advisors, said the new
technology has the potential to
 cool the brain much more quickly that conventional methods and achieve
those temperatures
 with greater reliability and accuracy.

 ``The hope is that we will be able to treat not only surgical patients,
but be able to treat patients
 in the field on an emergency basis,'' the neurosurgeon said.

 The neuron-protecting hypothermic therapy might also be combined with
existing clot-busting
 drugs that open up blood vessels in stroke victims, Steinberg
suggested.

 Doback noted that each year up to 250,000 Americans suffer strokes
damaging enough to affect
 speaking ability.

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