Brain cooling lessens chances of head injury recovery

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/uoe-bcl100615.php

Public Release: 7-Oct-2015
Brain cooling lessens chances of head injury recovery, study finds
University of Edinburgh

Head injury patients do not benefit from a therapy that involves cooling their bodies to reduce brain swelling, research has found.

Lowering body temperature - a therapy known as induced hypothermia - did not improve patients' chances of recovery, the study showed.

Doctors say the therapy may increase patients' risk of death and disability and should not be used to treat traumatic brain injuries.

Cooling the brain helps to reduce the build-up of pressure inside the head, which is strongly linked to long-term disability and death following head injury.

•••••

The team found that induced hypothermia was successful at reducing the build-up of pressure in the skull after head injury. Six months later, however, patients who had received the therapy were more likely to fare worse than those treated with standard care.

Favourable outcomes, ranging from moderate disability to good recovery, occurred in only a quarter of the patients in the hypothermia group compared with more than a third of patients in the control group.

Doctors ended the trial early because of fears that the therapy may cause harm to some patients.

•••••