Targeted temperature management
Therapeutic hypothermia is a medical treatment that lowers a patient's body temperature in order to help reduce the risk of the ischemic injury to tissue following a period of insufficient blood flow.[1] Periods of insufficient blood flow may be due to cardiac arrest or the occlusion of an artery by an embolism, as occurs in the case of strokes. Therapeutic hypothermia may be induced by invasive means, in which a catheter is placed in the inferior vena cava via the femoral vein, or by non-invasive means, usually involving a chilled water blanket or torso vest and leg wraps in direct contact with the patient's skin. Studies have demonstrated that patients at risk for ischemic brain injuries have better outcomes if treated with therapeutic hypothermia.[2]
History
Hypothermia has been applied therapeutically since antiquity. The Greek physician Hippocrates, the namesake of the Hippocratic Oath and arguably the world’s first modern doctor, advocated the packing of wounded soldiers in snow and ice.[3] Napoleonic surgeon Baron Dominque Larrey recorded that officers, who were kept closer to the fire, survived less often than the minimally pampered infantrymen.[3] In modern times the first medical article concerning hypothermia was published in 1945.[3]This study focused on the effects of hypothermia on patients suffering from severe head injury. In the 1950’s hypothermia received its first medical application, being used in intracerebal aneurysm surgery to create a bloodless field.[3] Most of the early research focused on the applications of deep hypothermia, defined as a body temperature between 20–25 °C (68–77 °F). Such an extreme drop in body temperature brings with it a whole host of side effects, which made the use of deep hypothermia impractical in most clinical situations.
This period also saw sporadic investigation of more mild forms of hypothermia, with mild hypothermia being defined as a body temperature between 32–34 °C (90–93 °F). In the 1950’s Doctor Rosomoff demonstrated in dogs the positive effects of mild hypothermia after brain ischemia and traumatic brain injury.[3] In the 1980’s further animal studies indicated the ability of mild hypothermia to act as a general neuroprotectant following a blockage of blood flow to the brain. This animal data was supported by two landmark human studies published simultaneously in 2002 by the New England Journal of Medicine.[1] Both studies, one occurring in Europe and the other in Australia, demonstrated the positive effects of mild hypothermia applied following cardiac arrest.[2] Responding to this research, in 2003 the American Heart Association (AHA) and the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) endorsed the use of therapeutic hypothermia following cardiac arrest.[4] Currently, a growing percentage of hospitals around the world incorporate the AHA/ILCOR guidelines and include hypothermic therapies in their standard package of care for patients suffering from cardiac arrest.[1] Some researchers go so far as to contend that hypothermia represents a better neuroprotectant following a blockage of blood to the brain than any known drug.[1][5]
Types of ischemic events
The types of medical events hypothermic therapies may effectively treat fall into five primary categories: hypothermia therapy for neonatal encephalopathy, cardiac arrest, ischemic stroke, traumatic brain or spinal cord injury without fever, and neurogenic fever following brain trauma.
Hypothermia therapy for neonatal encephalopathy
Hypothermia therapy for neonatal encephalopathy has been proven to improve outcomes for newborn infants affected by perinatal hypoxia-ischemia, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy or birth asphyxia. Whole body or selective head cooling to 33-34oC, begun within 6 hours of birth and continued for 72 hours significantly reduces mortality and reduces cerebral palsy and neurological deficits in survivors. The evidence and history of this treatment is given in more detail in the linked page Hypothermia therapy for neonatal encephalopathy.
Cardiac arrest
The data concerning hypothermia’s neuroprotectant qualities following cardiac arrest can be best summarized by two studies published in the New England Journal Medicine. The first of these studies conducted in Europe focused on people who were resuscitated 5–15 minutes after collapse. Patients participating in this study experienced spontaneous return of circulation (ROSC) after an median time of 22 minutes (normothermia group) and 21 minutes (hypothermia group). Hypothermia was initiated within 105 minutes after ROSC. Subjects were then cooled over a 24 hour period, with a target temperature of 32–34 °C (90–93 °F). 55% of the 137 patients in the hypothermia group experienced favorable outcomes, compared with only 39% in the group that received standard care following resuscitation.[2] Notably, complications between the two groups did not differ substantially. This data was supported by another similarly run study that took place simultaneously in Australia. In this study 49% of the patients treated with hypothermia following cardiac arrest experienced good outcomes, compared to only 26% of those who received standard care.[6]
One report suggests that fewer than 10% of the 300,000 Americans who suffer cardiac arrest each year survive "long enough to leave the hospital" despite increased use of such measures as "faster emergency squads, deployment of automated defibrillators at airports and other public places, and improvements in cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques."[1] But of 140 patients since 2006 treated at the Minneapolis Heart Institute, 52% have survived by using therapeutic hypothermia.[1]
Stroke
Most of the data concerning hypothermia’s effectiveness in treating stroke is limited to animal studies. These studies have focused primarily on ischemic stroke as opposed to hemorrhagic stroke, as hypothermia is associated with a lower clotting threshold. In these animal studies, hypothermia represented an effective neuroprotectant.[7] The use of hypothermia to control intracranial pressure (ICP) after an ischemic stroke was found to be both safe and practical.[8] In 2008, long-term hypothermia induced by low-dose hydrogen sulfide, a weak, reversible inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation, was shown to reduce the extent of brain damage caused by ischemic stroke in rats.[9]
Traumatic Brain or Spinal Cord Injury
Animal studies have shown the benefit of therapeutic hypothermia in traumatic CNS injuries. Clinical trials have shown mixed results with regards to the optimal temperature and delay of cooling. Achieving therapeutic temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius is thought to prevent secondary neurological injuries after severe CNS trauma.[10] An Australian and New Zealand Government funded study has begun in 2010 in which 512 patients are being randomised to being cooled and gradually rewarmed after suffering a TBI, the secondary group is randomised to standard therapy minus cooling and gradual rewarming. The 'Polar Study' is being run by the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society, Clinical Trials Group.
Neurogenic Fever
According to one study, elevated body temperature strongly correlates with an extended stay in the Intensive Care Unit for patients suffering from either ischemic brain injury or brain trauma.[11] Further, others have shown that patients presenting at the ICU with either brain trauma or ischemic brain injury in combination with a fever, have a 14% higher mortality rate than normothermic patients.[12] Combating fever through the use of temperature dampening devices represents a critical aspect of care for stroke patients.[13]
Mechanism of neuroprotection
The earliest rationale for the effects of hypothermia as a neuroprotectant focused on the slowing of cellular metabolism resulting from a drop in body temperature. For every one degree Celsius drop in body temperature, cellular metabolism slows by 5-7%.[12] Accordingly, most early hypotheses suggested that hypothermia reduces the harmful effects of ischemia by decreasing the body’s need for oxygen.[3] The initial emphasis on cellular metabolism explains why the early studies almost exclusively focused on the application of deep hypothermia, as these researchers believed that the therapeutic effects of hypothermia correlated directly with the extent of temperature decline.[14]
More recent data suggests that even a modest reduction in temperature can function as a neuroprotectant [15], suggesting the possibility that hypothermia affects pathways that extend beyond a decrease in cellular metabolism. One plausible hypothesis centers around the series of reactions that occur following oxygen deprivation, particularly those concerning ion homeostasis. In the special case of infants suffering perinatal asphyxia it appears that apoptosis is a prominent cause of cell death and that hypothermia therapy for neonatal encephalopathy interrupts the apoptotic pathway. In general, cell death is not directly caused by oxygen deprivation, but occurs indirectly as a result of the cascade of subsequent events. Cells need oxygen to create ATP, a molecule used by cells to store energy, and cells need ATP to regulate intracellular ion levels. ATP is used to fuel both the importation of ions necessary for cellular function and the removal of ions that are harmful to cellular function. Without oxygen, cells cannot manufacture the necessary ATP to regulate ion levels and thus cannot prevent the intracellular environment from approaching the ion concentration of the outside environment. It is not oxygen deprivation itself that precipitates cell death, but rather without oxygen the cell can not make the ATP it needs to regulate ion concentrations and maintain homeostasis.[3]
Notably, even a small drop in temperature encourages cell membrane stability during periods of oxygen deprivation. For this reason, a drop in body temperature helps prevent an influx of unwanted ions during an ischemic insult. By making the cell membrane more impermeable, hypothermia helps prevent the cascade of reactions set off by oxygen deprivation. Even moderate dips in temperature strengthen the cellular membrane, helping to minimize any disruption to the cellular environment. It is by moderating the disruption of homeostasis caused by a blockage of blood flow that many now postulate results in hypothermia’s ability to minimize the trauma resultant from ischemic injuries.[3]
Therapeutic hypothermia may also help to reduce reperfusion injury, damage caused by oxidative stress when the blood supply is restored to a tissue after a period of ischemia. Various inflammatory immune responses occur during reperfusion. These inflammatory responses cause increased intracranial pressure, which leads to cell injury and in some situations, cell death. Hypothermia has been shown to help moderate intracranial pressure and therefore to minimize the harmful effects of a patient’s inflammatory immune responses during reperfusion. The oxidation that occurs during reperfusion also increases free radical production. Since hypothermia reduces both intracranial pressure and free radical production, this might be yet another mechanism of action for hypothermia's therapeutic effect.[3]
Administration of treatment
Therapeutic hypothermia should be initiated as soon as possible in patients facing possible ischemic injury as time moderates hypothermia’s effectiveness as a neuroprotectant [citation needed]. Much of the animal data suggests that the earlier hypothermia is induced the better the subject’s outcome.[16] However, therapeutic hypothermia remains partially effective even when initiated as long as 6 hours after collapse.[17] Patients entering a state of induced hypothermia should be closely monitored. Clinicians must remain watchful of the adverse events associated with hypothermia. These adverse events include: arrhythmia, decreased clotting threshold, increased risk of infection, and increased risk of electrolyte imbalance. The medical data suggest that these adverse events can be mitigated only if the proper protocols are followed. Medical professionals must avoid overshooting the target temperature, as hypothermia’s adverse events increase in severity the lower a patient’s body temperature.[17] The accepted medical standards assert that a patient’s temperature should not fall below a threshold of 32 °C (90 °F).[17]
Prior to the induction of therapeutic hypothermia, pharmacological agents to control shivering must be administered. When body temperature drops below a certain threshold—typically around 36 °C (97 °F)--patients will begin to shiver.[5] It appears that regardless of the technique used to induce hypothermia, patients begin to shiver when temperature drops below this threshold.[5] The drugs most commonly employed to prevent shivering in therapeutic hypothermia are desflurane and pethidine (meperidine or Demerol).[5]
Clinicians should rewarm patients slowly and steadily in order to avoid unhealthy spikes in intracranial pressure.[17] A patient's rewarming should occur at a rate of a minimum of .17°C an hour in order to avoid injury, or a rewarming phase of at least 24 hours from 33 to 37 Deg C. In fact, most deaths caused by therapeutic hypothermia occurred during the rewarming phase of the procedure, deaths that could have been easily avoided by slow and precise rewarming.[18]
Methods
The medical methods through which hypothermia is induced break down into two categories: invasive and non-invasive.
Invasive
Cooling catheters
Cooling catheters are inserted into the femoral vein. Cooled saline solution is circulated through either a metal coated tube or a balloon. The saline cools the patient’s whole body by lowering the temperature of a patient’s blood. Catheters reduce temperature at rates ranging from 1.5 - 2.0 °C per hour. Through the use of the sophisticated control unit, catheters can bring body temperature to within .1 °C of the target level. This level of accuracy allows doctors to avoid many of the pitfalls associated with excessively deep levels of hypothermia. Furthermore, catheters can raise temperature at steady rate, which helps to avoid harmful rises in intracranial pressure.
Adverse events associated with this invasive technique include bleeding, infection, vascular puncture, and deep vein thrombosis (DVT).[19] Infection caused by cooling catheters is particularly harmful, as resuscitated patients are highly vulnerable to the complications associated with infections.[20] Bleeding too represents a significant danger to patients, due to a decreased clotting threshold caused by hypothermia. The risk of deep vein thrombosis might be the most pressing medical complication. One study found that incidents of deep vein thrombosis increased by 33% if a patient’s catheter was kept active for 4 days or less and 75% if their catheter was left attached for 4 days or more.[21] Deep vein thrombosis can be characterized as a medical event whereby a blood clot forms in a deep vein, usually the femoral vein. This condition turns deadly when the clot travels to the lungs and causes a pulmonary embolism. Furthermore, the catheter blocks doctors' access to the femoral vein, which is a site normally used for a variety of other necessary medical procedures, including angiography of the venous system and the right side of the heart. Unlike non-invasive methods, which can be administered by nurses, the insertion of cooling catheters must be performed by a physician fully trained and familiar with the procedure. The time delay between identifying a patient who might benefit from the procedure and the arrival of an interventional radiologist or other physician to perform the insertion may negate the benefit of invasive methods' more rapid cooling./
Non-invasive
Water blankets, Torso Vest, Leg Wraps
Water blankets are a technology where cold water circulates through a blanket, or torso wraparound vest and legwraps. To lower temperature with optimal speed, medical professionals must cover 70% of a patient’s surface area with water blankets. Although this technique of temperature management dates back to the 1950s, it remains the 'gold standard' of treatment today. The treatment also represents the most well studied means of controlling body temperature. Water blankets lower a patient’s temperature exclusively by cooling a patient’s skin and accordingly require no clinician performed invasive procedures and the complications that invasive procedures carry, such as infection, coagulopathies, increased time to patient treatment, especially out of hours.
If therapy with water blankets is given alongside two litres of cold intravenous saline, patients can be cooled to 33 deg C in 65 minutes. (ref to be inserted) Most machines now come with core temperature probes. When inserted into the rectum of the patient, the core body temperature is monitored and constant feedback to the machine allows changes in the water blanket to achieve the desired set temperature. In the past some of the models of cooling machines have produced an overshoot in the target temperature and cooled patients to levels below 32 °C (90 °F), resulting in increased adverse events. They have also rewarmed patients at too quick a rate, leading to spikes in intracranial pressure. Some of the new models have more sophisticated software that prevent this overshoot by utilising warmer water when the target temperature is close when cooling, preventing any overshoot. Some of the new machines now also have 3 rates of cooling and warming, a rewarming rate with one of these machines allows a patient to be rewarmed at a very slow tortoise style rate of just 0.17 deg C an hour in the automatic mode, allowing rewarming from 33 to 37 deg C over 24 hours.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Ron Winslow (OCTOBER 6, 2009). "How Ice Can Save Your Life". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
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(help) - ^ a b c Holzer, Michael. “Mild Hypothermia to Improve the Neurologic Outcome After Cardiac Arrest.” New England Journal of Medicine. (2002) Vol. 346, No. 8.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Polderman, Kees H. “Application of therapeutic hypothermia in the ICU.” Intensive Care Med. (2004) 30:556-575. http://www.springerlink.com/content/9n1h8x2bj8vcc5b8/
- ^ Therapeutic Hypothermia After Cardiac Arrest: An Advisory Statement by the Advanced Life Support Task Force of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation - Nolan et ...
- ^ a b c d Sessler, Daniel. “Thermoregulation and Heat Balance.” Therapeutic Hypothermia. Ed. Mayer, Stephen and Sessler, Daniel. Marcel Decker: New York, 2005.
- ^ Bernard, Stephen et al. "Treatment of Comatose Survivors of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest with Induced Hypothermia." New England Journal of Medicine. (2002) Vol. 346, No. 8. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/346/8/557
- ^ Krieger, Derk. et al.“Cooling for Acute Ischemic Brain Damage.” American Heart Association. May 25, 2001, pg. 1847-1854
- ^ Schwab, S. et al. “Moderate Hypothermia in the Treatment of Patients with Severe Middle Cerebral Artery Infarction.” American Heart Association. July 31, 1998, pg. 2461-2466 http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1604537
- ^ Florian B, Vintilescu R, Balseanu AT, Buga A-M, Grisk O, Walker LC, Kessler C, Popa-Wagner A (2008). "Long-term hypothermia reduces infarct volume in aged rats after focal ischemia". Neuroscience Letters. 438 (2): 180–185. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2008.04.020. PMID 18456407.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Jess Arcure BS, MSC; Eric E Harrison MD. (2009). "Review Article of the Use of Early Hypothermia in the Treatment of Traumatic Brain Injuries". JSOM Summer 2009 Volume 10 Edition 1. 10.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Dringer, Michael et al. “Elevated body temperature independently to increased length of stay in neurological intensive care unit patients.” Critical Care Medicine. 2004 Vol. 32, No. 7, pg. 1489-1495
- ^ a b Kammersgaard, L.P. et al. “Admission Body Temperature Predicts Long-Term Mortality After Acute Stroke http://stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/33/7/1759.” American Heart Association. March 12, 2002, pg. 1759-1762.
- ^ Ginsberg, Myron et al. “Combating Hyperthermia in Acute Stroke.” American Association. November 10, 1997, pg. 529-534. http://stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/29/2/529
- ^ Polderman, Kees. “Induced hypothermia and fever control for prevention and treatment of neurological injuries.” Lancet. 2008; 371: 1955–69. http://www.tripdatabase.com/spider.html?itemid=714708
- ^ Therapeutic Hypothermia at the Fire Medic Nerd
- ^ Adler, Jerry. “Back From the Dead.” Newsweek. July 23, 2007. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-32455420_ITM
- ^ a b c d Calver, Patty. “The Big Chill.” RN. (2005) Vol. 68, No. 5 http://rn.modernmedicine.com/rnweb/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=158219
- ^ Schwab, Stefan et al. “Feasibility and Safety of Moderate Hypothermia After Massive Hemisphere Infarction.” American Heart Association. June 4, 2001, pg. 2033-2035.
- ^ Schwab, Stefan et al. “Feasibility and Safety of Moderate Hypothermia After Massive Hemisphere Infraction.”
- ^ Haugk, Moritz et al. “Feasibility and efficacy of new non-invasive cooling device in post resuscitation intensive care medicine.” Resuscitation (2007) 75, 76-81
- ^ [Simosa, Hector et al. “Increased Risk of Deep Venous Thrombosis with Endovascular Cooling in Patients with Traumatic Head Injury."]