Therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest: Clinical application and management

Abstract

Therapeutic hypothermia has emerged as a very important treatment option for patients with cardiac arrest as it provides significant protection from developing neurologic injury once the patient has been successfully resuscitated. Studies have demonstrated over 15% absolute risk reduction in death and neurologic injury using this therapy. Although hospitals and medical centers have become familiar with this important intervention it still remains greatly under utilized due to an experience and lack of resources to safely and effectively deploy such a program. The objective of this book is to educate and familiarize both providers and institutions as to how to develop and deploy and provide therapeutic hypothermia to their patients. The current knowledge for this is provided by speakers and national experts and also by literature review. There are several courses being provided on this as well throughout the US. These are good venues for people to come and see and get hands on experience, but there still needs to be a concrete book with references on how to go about getting this program started.