Therapeutic hypothermia after cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Full cerebral recovery after cardiopulmonary resuscitation is still a rare event. Unfortunately, up to now, no specific and outcome-improving therapy was available after such events. From several cases it is known that low body and brain temperature during a cardiocirculatory arrest improves the neurological outcome following these events. As it is not possible in acute events to induce hypothermia beforehand, whether cooling after the insult could also be protective was evaluated. After animal studies in the 1990s and first clinical pilot trials of mild therapeutic and induced hypothermia, two randomized trials of hypothermic therapy after successful resuscitation after cardiac arrest were conducted. These studies demonstrated that hypothermia after cardiac arrest could improve neurological outcome as well as overall mortality.