Mild hypothermia may be beneficial to cardiac patients - Brief Article

AORN Journal,  April, 2002  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Mild therapeutic hypothermia has been found to lower mortality rates and improve neurological outcomes for patients who are resuscitated after cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation, according to a study published in the Feb 21, 2002, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. The study, designed as a randomized, controlled trial with a blinded assessment of the outcome, was conducted from March 1996 to January 2001. Nine medical centers in five European countries participated.

A favorable neurological outcome (ie, cerebral performance category one [good recovery] or two [moderate disability]) within six months after the cardiac arrest was the primary end point for the study. The secondary end points were mortality within six months and the incidence of complications within seven days.

Patients were assigned randomly to undergo therapeutic hypothermia or to receive standard treatment with normothermia. Participants in the hypothermia group were cooled with an external cooling device to a temperature of 32 [degrees] C to 34 [degrees] C (89.6 [degrees] F to 93.2 [degrees] F) during a 24-hour period, then passively rewarmed for approximately eight hours. Patients in both groups received standard intensive care.

Fifty-five percent of the patients in the hypothermia group had favorable neurological outcomes, compared to 39% of those receiving standard treatment. Six months after the cardiac arrest, mortality was 41% for patients in the hypothermia group, compared to 55% for patients in the standard treatment group. Complication rates between the groups did not differ significantly.

The Hypothermia after Cardiac Arrest Study Group, "Mild therapeutic hypothermia to improve the neurologic outcome after cardiac arrest," The New England Journal of Medicine 346 (February 21, 2002) 549-556.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group