X-Message-Number: 23394
From: "Basie" <>
Subject: Cooling helmets may prevent stroke damage 
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 18:46:55 -0500

I wonder if these helmets are available in hospitals. Maybe every cryonics
member should buy his own.

Basie

Cooling helmets may prevent stroke damage
Reuters
Washington, February 6

Helmets that cool the brain may slow down the spreading damage caused by a
stroke, buying precious hours for patients, researchers reported on
Thursday.

Such a helmet might be used by ambulance crews to stabilize stroke victims
while getting them to hospitals for brain-saving treatment, the researchers
said.

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, with most
caused by blood clots cutting off blood flow to the brain. The longer the
clot lasts, the worse the damage.

Clot-busting treatment can minimize damage but must be given within hours,
usually three hours, of the stroke.

Cooling patients has been found to help prevent the damage of a heart attack
and now two teams told the American Heart Association's annual International
Stroke Conference it may work for stroke, too.

The problem has been how to cool the brain without affecting the rest of the
body.

Dr Kentaro Yamada of the National Cardiovascular Center in Osaka, Japan and
colleagues said they tested a "helmet-type cooling apparatus" on 17 patients
with severe stroke.

His team put the cooling helmet on patients three to 12 hours after their
strokes and left it on for up to a week.

Some patients shivered mildly and had elevated potassium levels, mild skin
damage and infections, but none had serious adverse effects, Yamada said.

A similar US study used liquid cooling technology developed by NASA
scientist William Elkins for space suits, said Dr Huan Wang, a neurosurgeon
at the University of Illinois in Peoria.

His team used tiny fibre optic probes inserted in the brain to monitor the
temperature.

The patients' brains cooled an average of 6 degrees F (2.5 degrees C) the
first hour, without dropping body temperature significantly. Patients
tolerated it for an average of six to eight hours before body temperature
dropped below healthy levels, they said.

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=23394