Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Targeted temperature management (TTM), previously known as therapeutic hypothermia or protective hypothermia, is an active treatment that tries to achieve and maintain a specific body temperature in a person for a specific duration of time in an effort to improve health outcomes during recovery after a period of stopped blood flow to the brain. [1]
While moderate hypothermia may be satisfactory for short surgeries, deep hypothermia (20 °C to 25 °C) affords protection for times of 30 to 40 minutes at the bottom of this temperature range. Profound hypothermia (< 14 °C) usually isn't used clinically. It is a subject of research in animals and human clinical trials.
The rate of death from hypothermia is strongly related to age in the United States. Hypothermia usually occurs from exposure to low temperatures, and is frequently complicated by alcohol consumption. Any condition that decreases heat production, increases heat loss, or impairs thermoregulation, however, may contribute. [1]
The current treatment of choice is the intravenous administration of dantrolene, the only known antidote, discontinuation of triggering agents, and supportive therapy directed at correcting hyperthermia, acidosis, and organ dysfunction. Treatment must be instituted rapidly on clinical suspicion of the onset of malignant hyperthermia. [32]
Heart rate and respiration rate will increase (tachycardia and tachypnea) as blood pressure drops and the heart attempts to maintain adequate circulation. The decrease in blood pressure can then cause blood vessels to contract reflexively, resulting in a pale or bluish skin color in advanced cases. Young children, in particular, may have seizures.
The risk of a transient catastrophic cardiac event increases in individuals with heart disease during and immediately after exercise. [71] The lifetime and acute risks of cardiac arrest are decreased in people with heart disease who perform regular exercise, perhaps suggesting the benefits of exercise outweigh the risks. [71]
A hypothermia cap (also referred to as cold cap or cooling cap) is a therapeutic device used to cool the human scalp. Its most prominent medical applications are in preventing or reducing alopecia in chemotherapy , and for preventing cerebral palsy in babies born with neonatal encephalopathy caused by hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) .
Localized hyperthermia treatment is a well-established cancer treatment method with a simple basic principle: If a temperature elevation to 40 °C (104 °F) can be maintained for one hour within a cancer tumor, the cancer cells will be destroyed. [11] The schedule for treatments has varied between study centers.