A Lifesaving Chill for Cardiac Arrest

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Rapidly cooling a heart attack victim could help save his or her life and prevent him or her from suffering brain damage.

In an effort to reduce injury, the practice of cooling patients after cardiac arrest has been performed for years; but now there's a way to cool patients right after they suffer an event -- a critical period of time.

RhinoChill is a new tool that cools the brain during ongoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). It is a battery-operated, non-invasive device that works by delivering coolant through nasal prongs.

In a recent study, 200 adults who were witnessed into going into cardiac arrest were administered either standard resuscitation or treatment with the RhinoChill. Eighteen of the patients were excluded from the research because of a "do not resuscitate" order or because there was a non-cardiac cause of their cardiac arrest.

For patients receiving the cooling therapy, cooling began a median of 23 minutes after their cardiac arrest. Results showed 46.7 percent of those who received the RhinoChill survived to hospital discharge, compared with 31 percent of those receiving standard care. Upon discharge, 36.7 percent of those cooled were in good neurological condition, compared with 21.4 percent of those given standard care. Results were even better for patients whose cooling therapy began within ten minutes of cardiac arrest: 59.1 percent survived to hospital discharge, and 45.5 percent were neurologically intact upon discharge.

"RhinoChill is easy and safe to use during a cardiac arrest outside of the hospital," Denise Barbut, M.D., senior author of the study and president and chairman of BeneChill, Inc., maker of the device, was quoted as saying. "Although the study was not powered to look at outcomes, there seemed to be a significant benefit on survival and neurologically intact survival, specifically in those treated within ten minutes."

Some adverse reactions reported from the RhinoChill include nosebleeds, nasal discolorations, seizure, and repeat cardiac arrest.

Source: American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions, November 14-18, 2009, Orlando, FL

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