Induction of therapeutic mild hypothermia in patients after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in pre-hospital emergency care - results of the PRE-COOL clinical trial
Abstract
Pre-hospital induction of therapeutic mild hypothermia may reduce post-cardiac arrest brain injury in patients resuscitated from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The aim of the study was to assess feasibility of pre-hospital cooling in the setting of Emergency Medical Services in the Czech Republic.
A total of 40 patients were cooled by rapid intravenous administration of 5-30 ml/kg of 4°C cold normal saline during transport to the hospital Control group patients did not underwent any pre-hospital cooling attempt. In the hypothermic group, administration of 12.3±6.4 ml/kg of 4°C cold normal saline was followed by a pre-hospital temperature decrease of 1.4±0.8°C in 42±19.6 min (p<0.001).
We confirmed the effectiveness and safety of pre-hospital cooling by infusion of cold normal saline in the pre-hospital setting.