Theoretical evaluation of a simple cooling pad for inducing hypothermia in the spinal cord following traumatic injury
Katisha D. Smith, Liang Zhu
Med Biol Eng Comput, 2010
The Pennes bioheat equation and finite element method are used to solve for the temperature distributions in the spinal cord and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) during 30 min of cooling for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. The average CSF and spinal cord temperatures are reduced by 3.48 and 2.72 degrees C, respectively. The 100-mm wide pad provides the desired cooling and uses the least amount of material. The proposed technique can reduce the spinal cord temperature by 2 degrees C within 30 min and may be a feasible treatment for traumatic SCI.