Largest Study Of Therapeutic Cooling To Reduce Brain Injury After Stroke Now Underway
Thursday, December 9, 2010
By: Sandy Van

Sandy Van, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

The largest clinical trial of therapeutic brain cooling (hypothermia) after stroke has launched, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

This study looks at whether hypothermia can safely be used in elderly stroke patients. In earlier studies, brain cooling decreased brain swelling after an acute stroke. It also saved lives and prevented neurological damage after cardiac arrest and after oxygen deprivation in newborns.

"We know hypothermia works, but is it safe when you consider age and other conditions such as diabetes or hypertension?" said Patrick D. Lyden, M.D., former director of the UC San Diego Stroke Center who now serves as the chairman of the Department of Neurology at Cedars-Sinai. He is the study's overall principal investigator.

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