Inducing hypothermia during medical emergencies gains ground
A growing number of studies show that cooling down patients suffering from oxygen loss, stroke, and spinal cord and traumatic brain injury can ease damaging effects, but larger trials still need to be conducted.
Increasingly, doctors are using or considering the hypothermia technique for a variety of emergencies beyond full cardiac arrest.
Avery Reynolds was born with barely a whimper, black and blue from lack of oxygen, on Friday, Aug. 13, 2010. The umbilical cord encircled her legs. Doctors wrapped her in a cold blanket to induce hypothermia.
Amanda Reynolds recalls her daughter was hooked up to numerous machines; she couldn't hold her baby for more than a week. But when she finally did, "we looked each other right in the eye .... I felt, she's going to OK," recalls Reynolds, who lives in Santa Monica.
Avery would spend more than six weeks in the hospital and would need physical therapy afterward. But now, "she's right where a 10-month-old should be," Reynolds said in June. "We're just so thankful."
Read more...- 0 Comment(s)
Your comment