Epidural perfusion cooling protection against protracted spinal cord ischemia in rabbits
Ivo Vanicky, Martin Marsala, Jan Galk, Jozef Marsala
J Neurosurg, 1993
Rabbits were subjected to either normothermic ischemia or hypothermic ischemia. Each group contained three subgroups of animals undergoing 20, 40, or 60 minutes of aortic ligation. Their neurological outcomes were evaluated up to 48 hours postischemia, and the intergroup differences were compared. In the normothermic animals, a high incidence of paraplegia was detected: in 40% after 20 minutes of ischemia, in 75% after 40 minutes, and in 100% after 60 minutes. In contrast, all of the hypothermic animals exhibited full neurological recovery even after 60 minutes of ischemia. Deep spinal cord hypothermia produced by epidural perfusion cooling provides effective protection against protracted spinal cord ischemia