Pilot prospective study of therapeutic hypothermia for treatment of post-cardiac arrest patients

Abstract

Survival to hospital discharge after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in Singapore is a mere 2.7% [1]. Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) is a method of preserving vital organ and neurological function following global anoxia in cardiac arrest [2], by controlled lowering of core body temperature to improve the oxygen supply-and-demand mismatch and attenuate ischemic–reperfusion injury. The revised 2010 guidelines by AHA stated that initiating TH is now considered as standard post-resuscitation care for comatose cardiac arrest patients [3].