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Active cooling in traumatic brain-injured patients: a questionable therapy?

Grände, Per-Olof LU ; Reinstrup, Peter LU and Romner, Bertil LU (2009) In Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica 53. p.1233-1238
Abstract
Hypothermia is shown to be beneficial for the outcome after a transient global brain ischaemia through its neuroprotective effect. Whether this is also the case after focal ischaemia, such as following a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), has been investigated in numerous studies, some of which have shown a tendency towards an improved outcome, whereas others have not been able to demonstrate any beneficial effect. A Cochrane report concluded that the majority of the trials that have already been published have been of low quality, with unclear allocation concealment. If only high-quality trials are considered, TBI patients treated with active cooling were more likely to die, a conclusion supported by a recent high-quality Canadian trial... (More)
Hypothermia is shown to be beneficial for the outcome after a transient global brain ischaemia through its neuroprotective effect. Whether this is also the case after focal ischaemia, such as following a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), has been investigated in numerous studies, some of which have shown a tendency towards an improved outcome, whereas others have not been able to demonstrate any beneficial effect. A Cochrane report concluded that the majority of the trials that have already been published have been of low quality, with unclear allocation concealment. If only high-quality trials are considered, TBI patients treated with active cooling were more likely to die, a conclusion supported by a recent high-quality Canadian trial on children. Still, there is a belief that a modified protocol with a shorter time from the accident to the start of active cooling, longer cooling and rewarming time and better control of blood pressure and intracranial pressure would be beneficial for TBI patients. This belief has led to the instigation of new trials in adults and in children, including these types of protocol adjustments. The present review provides a short summary of our present knowledge of the use of active cooling in TBI patients, and presents some tentative explanations as to why active cooling has not been shown to be effective for outcome after TBI. We focus particularly on the compromised circulation of the penumbra zone, which may be further reduced by the stress caused by the difference in thermostat and body temperature and by the hypothermia-induced more frequent use of vasoconstrictors, and by the increased risk of contusional bleedings under hypothermia. We suggest that high fever should be reduced pharmacologically. (Less)
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organization
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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica
volume
53
pages
1233 - 1238
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000270585900001
  • pmid:19681780
  • scopus:70349744063
  • pmid:19681780
ISSN
0001-5172
DOI
10.1111/j.1399-6576.2009.02074.x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
030ee93c-b34e-4a65-8bfa-9bff6b68e753 (old id 1469741)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19681780?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 07:13:49
date last changed
2022-01-29 01:55:04
@article{030ee93c-b34e-4a65-8bfa-9bff6b68e753,
  abstract     = {{Hypothermia is shown to be beneficial for the outcome after a transient global brain ischaemia through its neuroprotective effect. Whether this is also the case after focal ischaemia, such as following a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), has been investigated in numerous studies, some of which have shown a tendency towards an improved outcome, whereas others have not been able to demonstrate any beneficial effect. A Cochrane report concluded that the majority of the trials that have already been published have been of low quality, with unclear allocation concealment. If only high-quality trials are considered, TBI patients treated with active cooling were more likely to die, a conclusion supported by a recent high-quality Canadian trial on children. Still, there is a belief that a modified protocol with a shorter time from the accident to the start of active cooling, longer cooling and rewarming time and better control of blood pressure and intracranial pressure would be beneficial for TBI patients. This belief has led to the instigation of new trials in adults and in children, including these types of protocol adjustments. The present review provides a short summary of our present knowledge of the use of active cooling in TBI patients, and presents some tentative explanations as to why active cooling has not been shown to be effective for outcome after TBI. We focus particularly on the compromised circulation of the penumbra zone, which may be further reduced by the stress caused by the difference in thermostat and body temperature and by the hypothermia-induced more frequent use of vasoconstrictors, and by the increased risk of contusional bleedings under hypothermia. We suggest that high fever should be reduced pharmacologically.}},
  author       = {{Grände, Per-Olof and Reinstrup, Peter and Romner, Bertil}},
  issn         = {{0001-5172}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1233--1238}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica}},
  title        = {{Active cooling in traumatic brain-injured patients: a questionable therapy?}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5131729/1479074.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/j.1399-6576.2009.02074.x}},
  volume       = {{53}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}