A Cool Idea May Prevent Permanent Disability From Stroke
Feb. 14, 2001 (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) -- The patients' blood ran cold, and that turned out to be a very good thing.
In an experimental procedure, doctors from Ohio's Cleveland Clinic dramatically lowered the body temperature of 10 patients who had suffered massive strokes. Follow-up studies confirmed their theory that a big chill would help slow or stop the brain damage that occurs after a stroke -- and in the long run help the patients return to a normal life.
This is the first time a study has shown that cooling the brain can lessen the damage caused by stroke, say researchers who discussed their ultra cool approach to stroke therapy here as part of the American Stroke Association's 26th International Stroke Conference.
Previous studies, however, have suggested that temperature -- whether hot or cold -- can affect the brain, says Marc Mayberg, MD, professor and chair of neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic, who chaired the discussion.
"We know, for example, that fever can worsen the effect of stroke," says Mayberg, who adds that cooling is now used as a treatment in some cases of head trauma.
In the new study, 10 patients with severe stroke were first given a drug to dissolve clots that had cut off the blood supply to their brains. When they didn't improve after this clot-busting therapy, the researchers tried cooling them down.
The goal was to lower the patients' internal, core temperature to 91°F, says Derk W. Krieger, MD, PhD, of the Cleveland Clinic's section on stroke and intensive care. Once the temperature dropped to the desired level, it was kept there for an average of 22 hours.
The results, Krieger says, were very encouraging. Half of the 10 patients improved enough that that they had little or no permanent disability from their strokes -- "which means they were able to return to work," he says.
When investigators compared those results to nine patients who had equally severe strokes but did not receive the cooling treatments, the difference was striking: Only about 11% of the patients who received traditional treatments were able to return to work after their strokes.
A Cool Idea May Prevent Permanent Disability From Stroke
Feb. 14, 2001 (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) -- The patients' blood ran cold, and that turned out to be a very good thing.
In an experimental procedure, doctors from Ohio's Cleveland Clinic dramatically lowered the body temperature of 10 patients who had suffered massive strokes. Follow-up studies confirmed their theory that a big chill would help slow or stop the brain damage that occurs after a stroke -- and in the long run help the patients return to a normal life.
This is the first time a study has shown that cooling the brain can lessen the damage caused by stroke, say researchers who discussed their ultra cool approach to stroke therapy here as part of the American Stroke Association's 26th International Stroke Conference.
Previous studies, however, have suggested that temperature -- whether hot or cold -- can affect the brain, says Marc Mayberg, MD, professor and chair of neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic, who chaired the discussion.
"We know, for example, that fever can worsen the effect of stroke," says Mayberg, who adds that cooling is now used as a treatment in some cases of head trauma.
In the new study, 10 patients with severe stroke were first given a drug to dissolve clots that had cut off the blood supply to their brains. When they didn't improve after this clot-busting therapy, the researchers tried cooling them down.
The goal was to lower the patients' internal, core temperature to 91°F, says Derk W. Krieger, MD, PhD, of the Cleveland Clinic's section on stroke and intensive care. Once the temperature dropped to the desired level, it was kept there for an average of 22 hours.
The results, Krieger says, were very encouraging. Half of the 10 patients improved enough that that they had little or no permanent disability from their strokes -- "which means they were able to return to work," he says.
When investigators compared those results to nine patients who had equally severe strokes but did not receive the cooling treatments, the difference was striking: Only about 11% of the patients who received traditional treatments were able to return to work after their strokes.