Clinical Outcomes Using Modest Intravascular Hypothermia After Acute Cervical Spinal Cord Injury
Allan D. Levi, Gizelda Casella, Barth A. Green, W. Dalton Dietrich, Steven Vanni, Jonathan Jagid, Michael Y. Wang
Congress of Neurological Surgeons, 2009
Fourteen patients with complete cervical spinal cord injury were treated with 48 hours of modest intravascular hypothermia. The comparison group was composed of 14 age and injury matched subjects. The patients were assessed using the American Spinal Association (ASIA) impairment scale. Six of the 14 cooled patients (42.8%) were incomplete at final follow-up (50.2 weeks). Three patients improved to AIS B, 2 patients improved to AIS C, and 1 patient improved to AIS D. Complications were predominantly respiratory and infectious in nature in both groups. Events such as coagulopathy, deep venous thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism were not seen in the patients undergoing hypothermia.