Abstract TP288: Selective Brain Hypothermia Induced by Thermoelectric Cooling

Abstract

Background: Stroke or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) are leading causes of disability and death in the United States. Hypothermia is a known neuronal protectant. Current hypothermia interventions include intravascular, intranasal, and surface brain cooling technologies but these interventions have not been well utilized clinically. Cooling the brain a few degrees below normothermia (T<36°C) has been shown to yield significant neuroprotective effects. Noninvasive surface cooling methods are most desirable given their less patient complications, provided the desired therapeutic hypothermia effect (T 33-36°C) can be maintained. Method: These investigators propose a novel noninvasive solid state technology that employs addressable Peltier thermoelectric cooling elements to generate hypothermia. ThermoPelt’s closed-looped microcontroller design provides the ability to address individual Peltier elements to selectively reduce the temperature of localized regions of the brain, thus allowing precision therapeutic hypothermic conditions to be realized. Results: Assessment of ThermoPelt performance was accomplished with use of virtual prototype (engineering mathematical model representations of the brain) and early, in vitro experimental physical prototype testing. Preliminary results obtained from virtual and physical prototype tests verify ThermoPelt feasibility to achieve hypothermic conditions. Conclusion: In this new method of generating hypothermia, the preliminary findings demonstrate that our noninvasive ThermoPelt technology is capable of reducing brain temperature at controlled rates to selectively target specific head and neck regions.