More docs saying 'cool it'

Healthcare Purchasing News, Sept, 2003

Therapeutic hypothermia--reducing body temperature below normal--has faded in and out of fashion for 50 years, but in July it received a big endorsement when the American Heart Association published a recommendation that some victims of cardiac arrest be chilled. "Hypothermia is making an enormous resurgence," said Dr. Michael N. Diringer, associate professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Washington University in St. Louis. "It's hot stuff, pardon the pun."

A report published in the New York times said that cooling might also become a hot business. In recent years, venture capitalists, envisioning billions in revenue, have poured more than $200 million into companies developing new ways to cool patients.

"Hospitals "should be sitting there thinking, 'How are we going to start a hypothermia program at this institution?' "said William Worthen, chief executive of the Alsius Corporation, a cooling products manufacturer based in Irvine, CA.