Hypothermia therapy may help cardiac patients

[The Times of India, April 04, 2011] A new study has suggested that young adult patients with genetic heart diseases, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), could substantially benefit from hypothermia therapy.

"Therapeutic hypothermia is an effective survival and neuroprotective treatment strategy increasingly employed in unconscious patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and restored spontaneous circulation," said senior author Barry J. Maron, director of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation in Minneapolis.

Retrospectively examining patient records at Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and Tufts Medical Center in Boston, the researchers found that seven young, asymptomatic patients with HCM (mean age 43), unexpectedly incurred cardiac arrest within a 46-month period, and survived after receiving therapeutic hypothermia.