Hypothermia News and Research

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When exposed to cold temperatures, your body begins to lose heat faster than it can be produced. Prolonged exposure to cold will eventually use up your body’s stored energy. The result is hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature. Body temperature that is too low affects the brain, making the victim unable to think clearly or move well. This makes hypothermia particularly dangerous because a person may not know it is happening and won’t be able to do anything about it.

Hypothermia is most likely at very cold temperatures, but it can occur even at cool temperatures (above 40°F) if a person becomes chilled from rain, sweat, or submersion in cold water.

Rebound hyperthermia linked to worse neurologic outcomes, mortality in survivors of cardiac arrest

Rebound hyperthermia, or fever, is common after controlled body cooling to treat comatose survivors of cardiac arrest, but a new study presents evidence of significantly worse neurologic outcomes.

24 Oct 2017

Cooling treatment for babies deprived of oxygen at birth can reduce childhood epilepsy

Cooling babies deprived of oxygen at birth (perinatal asphyxia) can reduce the number of children who develop epilepsy later in childhood, according to a new study published in the journal Epilepsia.

3 Oct 2017

New drug treatment linked to higher bladder compliance after spinal cord injury

Researchers have shown that compared to placebo, a drug treatment intended to prevent remodeling of the bladder wall and given within 48 hours after spinal cord injury (SCI) in dogs was associated with significantly higher bladder compliance.

7 Sep 2017

Physical exercise during pregnancy provides benefits for both mother and baby

Spanish researchers have clarified doubts over the physical activity recommended during pregnancy. Their work highlights how exercise should be taken not only by healthy, previously active women, but that it is also a good time to adopt a healthy lifestyle. There are clear advantages for both the mother and baby.

4 Sep 2017

New approach to treating neonatal hypoxic ischemia improves outcomes in preclinical models

Hypothermia alone, the current standard of care, neuroprotects roughly 50 percent of newborns with moderate to severe hypoxic ischemia. Therefore, half of all affected newborns are left with developmental, cognitive and motor delays including cerebral palsy following injury.

1 Sep 2017

ICP monitoring does not improve favorable outcome rate in patients with severe TBI, study shows

A new study has shown that use of intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) was associated with a significant decrease in mortality, but it did not improve the rate of favorable outcomes.

16 Aug 2017

Study determines safest temperature and duration for body-cooling of newborns

After more than 20 years of research on the best treatment for full-term infants affected by oxygen deprivation during the birthing process, Seetha Shankaran, M.D., neonatologist at DMC's Children's Hospital of Michigan and Hutzel Women's Hospital, served as the lead investigator in a definitive Journal of the American Medical Association study that documented the safest depth and duration of body-cooling to minimize injury from hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in newborns.

25 Jul 2017

Extensive surgical repair of type A aortic dissection results in better long-term outcomes

Cardiac surgeons are successfully performing more extensive surgical repairs of type A aortic dissection — one of the highest risk operations in cardiothoracic surgery.

6 Jun 2017

Outdated health myths practiced by grand parents could pose serious risks to young children

Many grandparents raising their grandchildren practice outdated health and parenting myths that could potentially pose serious risks to young children, according to illuminating new research by a Northwell Health pediatrician.

4 May 2017

Cold weather increases risk of mortality in Texas, study finds

Cold weather increases the risk of mortality in Texas residents, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health. The findings were recently published in the journal Environmental Pollution.

26 Apr 2017

Skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding instigate bonding between mothers and newborns

When little Aiden Sandoval was born, lactation consultant Delia Peña was in the birthing suite ready to place him against his mother's bare chest.

21 Apr 2017

New study reveals sympathetic nervous system as main driver of thermogenesis

A new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai provides important insights into how the body regulates its production of heat, a process known as thermogenesis that is currently intensely studied as a target of diabetes and obesity treatment in humans.

17 Apr 2017

Study shows safety of Schwann cell transplantation for treating subacute thoracic spinal cord injury

A Phase I clinical trial that targeted individuals with new onset paraplegia to evaluate the safety of transplanting their own potentially neuroprotective Schwann cells into a trauma-induced spinal cord lesion showed no evidence of adverse effects after 1 year.

22 Mar 2017

BodyCap wins medical CE mark for ingestible connected pill e-Celsius

BodyCap, a company specialized in miniaturized wireless monitoring devices for e-health applications, today announces that it has obtained the medical CE mark for e-Celsius from the LNE Gmed certifying organization.

13 Mar 2017

Study highlights need for increased vigilance when using GFAP, UCH-L-1 as potential biomarkers of mTBI

In patients who suffered acute orthopedic injuries, two proposed biomarkers for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) were not able to distinguish between patients who did or did not have mTBI.

7 Feb 2017

Researchers uncover how brain circuit elicits hunger responses during starvation

The human body responds to starving conditions, such as famine, to promote the chance of survival. It reduces energy expenditure by stopping heat production and promotes feeding behavior.

27 Jan 2017

Body cooling not more effective than therapeutic normothermia for treating in-hospital cardiac arrests in children

In a multicenter, international study of infants and children who suffered cardiac arrest while in the hospital, NIH-funded researchers have found that body cooling, or therapeutic hypothermia, is no more effective than actively keeping the body at a normal temperature, or therapeutic normothermia.

25 Jan 2017

New research reveals link between fluid volume and temperature during hard work in hot weather

New research from the University of Montana demonstrates a unique relationship between fluid volume and fluid temperature during arduous work in the heat.

19 Oct 2016

New clinical study to examine safety and outcomes of body cooling in cardiac arrest patients

The R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland has opened a clinical trial to study whether rapidly cooling the body temperature of patients whose hearts stop due to massive blood loss will give surgeons extra time to find and repair injuries, and in turn, help save their lives.

17 Oct 2016

Study evaluates outcomes of hypothermia treatment among patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest

In a study appearing in the October 4 issue of JAMA, Paul S. Chan, M.D., of Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute, Kansas City, and colleagues evaluated the association of hypothermia treatment with survival to hospital discharge and with favorable neurological survival at hospital discharge among patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest.

4 Oct 2016