Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-12-10-body-cooling-cover_x.htm When his heart stopped in the middle of his workday, Dean Cowles fell clinically dead in one of the best places in the world to suffer sudden cardiac arrest. The 57-year-old engineer collapsed on July 18 in King County just outside Seattle, a community that leads the USA in saving lives because of a commitment to cutting-edge emergency medicine. He was surrounded by co-workers who knew what to do when his body seized and he gasped for air; for years they have taken classes in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. His heart quivered in an electrical short-circuit in a building in which Dean and his friends make defibrillators, the device he would need - fast - if he were to be revived. A by-the-book rescue restarted Cowles' heart. But when he did not wake up after his heart was restarted, his doctors say, he needed a treatment that most Americans don't get - induced hypothermia - in which doctors lowered his body temperature to about 91 degrees. As Cowles' body struggled to recover from a cascade of biological problems that can follow sudden clinical death, his heartbeat was strong but his brain was competing with every other organ for oxygen. Hypothermia therapy has for years been used in the operating room when doctors want to slowly reduce a patient's need for oxygenated blood during heart and other surgeries. While researchers do not fully understand why, studies have shown that cooling allows the body to get by with less oxygen by decreasing the metabolic demand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 Ooooh goody! USA Today continues the mythology that cardiac arrest survival is the only measure of a good EMS system. And of course, once again, King County is held up as the model of all things good in EMS. I don't doubt that King County knows what they're doing, at least in cardiac arrest, but I think we're shortchanging the other things that EMS does well when we focus maniacally on cardiac arrest. Plus, I'm always skeptical of any EMS system's PR machine -- including my own. We know that PR and reality aren't always as closely connected as the press release would have us believe. -Wes Ogilvie, MPA, JD, EMT-B Austin, Texas Today's USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-12-10-body-cooling-cover_x.htm When his heart stopped in the middle of his workday, Dean Cowles fell clinically dead in one of the best places in the world to suffer sudden cardiac arrest. The 57-year-old engineer collapsed on July 18 in King County just outside Seattle, a community that leads the USA in saving lives because of a commitment to cutting-edge emergency medicine. He was surrounded by co-workers who knew what to do when his body seized and he gasped for air; for years they have taken classes in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. His heart quivered in an electrical short-circuit in a building in which Dean and his friends make defibrillators, the device he would need - fast - if he were to be revived. A by-the-book rescue restarted Cowles' heart. But when he did not wake up after his heart was restarted, his doctors say, he needed a treatment that most Americans don't get - induced hypothermia - in which doctors lowered his body temperature to about 91 degrees. As Cowles' body struggled to recover from a cascade of biological problems that can follow sudden clinical death, his heartbeat was strong but his brain was competing with every other organ for oxygen. Hypothermia therapy has for years been used in the operating room when doctors want to slowly reduce a patient's need for oxygenated blood during heart and other surgeries. While researchers do not fully understand why, studies have shown that cooling allows the body to get by with less oxygen by decreasing the metabolic demand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 No, Wes, I really didn't know that. Was there a study on that? So that means that any service in the state that tells us they have in-depth protocols, good working conditions and excellent benefits are all stretching the truth. Andy Foote Today's USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-12-10-body-cooling-cover_x.htm When his heart stopped in the middle of his workday, Dean Cowles fell clinically dead in one of the best places in the world to suffer sudden cardiac arrest. The 57-year-old engineer collapsed on July 18 in King County just outside Seattle, a community that leads the USA in saving lives because of a commitment to cutting-edge emergency medicine. He was surrounded by co-workers who knew what to do when his body seized and he gasped for air; for years they have taken classes in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. His heart quivered in an electrical short-circuit in a building in which Dean and his friends make defibrillators, the device he would need - fast - if he were to be revived. A by-the-book rescue restarted Cowles' heart. But when he did not wake up after his heart was restarted, his doctors say, he needed a treatment that most Americans don't get - induced hypothermia - in which doctors lowered his body temperature to about 91 degrees. As Cowles' body struggled to recover from a cascade of biological problems that can follow sudden clinical death, his heartbeat was strong but his brain was competing with every other organ for oxygen. Hypothermia therapy has for years been used in the operating room when doctors want to slowly reduce a patient's need for oxygenated blood during heart and other surgeries. While researchers do not fully understand why, studies have shown that cooling allows the body to get by with less oxygen by decreasing the metabolic demand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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