Heart Patients Put in a 'Deep Freeze' at Florida Hospital Orlando

Heart Patients Put in a 'Deep Freeze' at Florida Hospital Orlando

'Cool' new technology puts brain and heart damage on ice

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 7, 2006 - Patients who suffer from cardiac arrest are receiving a new type of treatment at Florida Hospital Orlando - it's called 'Code Cool' and it literally sends patients into a 'deep freeze.' It's not the winter weather that is chilling these patients, but rather they are being cooled using Medivance's Artic Sun®, a machine that allows doctors and nurses to cool these patients' body temperatures down between 32 and 34 degrees Celsius (inducing mild hypothermia) using temperature-controlled, water-filled pads that attach directly to the patient's skin.  Mild hypothermia can potentially improve the recovery and quality of life for patients who have suffered heart attacks, cardiac arrest, strokes, and other traumatic disorders.

Patients who come into the hospital with certain types of cardiac arrest and who are on a ventilator or who are unconscious are cooled down as soon as possible, usually within four hours at Florida Hospital.  They are then cooled for 24 hours before their body temperature is steadily re-warmed.  Typically, it takes 8-12 hours to re-warm the patient.

Cooling patients after they have suffered from cardiac arrest helps caregivers to control the extent of the injury to the brain and decreases the amount of damage to the heart.  Lowering the body temperature decreases the patients' metabolic rates, which decreases the amount of energy they have to exert to live. Studies have shown that patients who receive this type of treatment have better outcomes and decreased mortality.  Studies also show that patients either returned to the same quality of life or had a minimal loss. 

Only about 15 percent of hospitals in the United States are using this type of cooling therapy.  In 2005, the American Heart Association approved cooling therapy as an appropriate treatment method after cardiac arrest. 

For more information, contact Florida Hospital Media Relations at 407-303-8217.

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