Abstract
Induction of mild therapeutic hypothermia early after return of spontaneous circulation improves prognosis of cardiac arrest survivors. Rapid cooling of the patients and correct maintenance of the target therapeutic temperature followed by controlled slow rewarming can be achieved by several non-invasive and invasive methods of various efficacy.
Elementary and the most frequently used methods are surface cooling via ice-packs and rapid intravenous administration of cold crystalloids. Mattress cooling systems and facilities for endovascular catheter-cooling are more sophisticated, manageable and ensure more precise titration of therapeutic temperature.
Cooling caps and helmets leading to selective head cooling can be used as the complementary techniques. Several other methods are too instrumentation-intensive, too invasive or investigated in animal experiments only.