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New Uses for Cryotherapy
In our previous article, Cold Packs (Cryotherapy) for Reducing Muscle Pain and Bodyache, we discussed using of cold packs for reducing physical pain.
Besides these uses, Cryotherapy has also been highly effective in limiting damage in patients with spinal cord injuries and strokes. In fact, the use in spinal cord injuries was brought into the spotlight in 2007 on a well-publicized traumatic injury to NFL Buffalo Bills player Kevin Everett when he sustained a devastating hit that threatened total paralysis. By rapidly pumping cold saline solution into his veins, doctors were able to dramatically reduce his inflammation and spare him from total paralysis.
As explained in our previous article, Cryotherapy works for reducing muscle pain because cold temperature reduces low-level heat of inflammation, slows down neural impulses (thus limiting pain), and reduces swelling in affected areas of body tissue. In cases of spinal cord injuries, the application of cold temperature is amplified by intravenously inducing rapid cooling.
The Use of Cryotherapy in Open-Heart Surgery
Open-heart surgery is a miracle of the last two decades. The only way surgeons are able to perform open-heart surgery is by:
The amazing Heart-Lung machine receives the patient's blood through a tube on one end. Then lowers the temperature of the blood as it passes through the machine, and pumps the blood out and back into the patient's body.
By cooling down the body to 58 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees lower than normal), doctors discovered that body tissues could survive invasive surgery at a much greater rate. Specifically, heart and muscle tissue require less oxygen and blood supply to live. At this cold temperature, greater amounts of cells are able to endure open-heart surgery. This discovery is a solid testament to the healing benefits of cryotherapy.
Cryotherapy for Heart Attacks
Now the use of Cryotherapy is being mandated for treating heart attacks in New York City, which will require ambulances to deliver people suffering cardiac arrest (heart attacks) to hospitals administering Cryotherapy.
Doctors are applauding this change of policy because Cryotherapy is non-invasive and available for use in any regular hospital, where the body is cooled from 98 degrees to 90 degrees, which initiates the life-saving cooling effect.
In fact, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute is funding medical studies to collect hard data in an effort to build solid evidence from human tests. While previous research with animals has suggested positive effects, clinical data from humans has been inconclusive because the method of cooling was too slow, as cardiac therapy requires rapid cooling.
Doctors are somewhat confident that these human studies will verify that body tissue, which would have died, can remain alive with the use of Cryotherapy. New devices like Life Recovery’s ThermoSuit System, which inflates a body-covering suit tightly around the patient, applies rapid cold water surrounding the body to lower temperature in about 40 minutes.
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Sources: Medical Ice Slurry Coolants for Inducing Targeted-Organ/Tissue Protective Cooling Biomedical Applications Argonne National Laboratory U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science (www.ne.anl.gov) June 2008 Rapid Non-Invasive Whole Body Cooling Via a Skin Contacting Circulating Thin Layer of Cold Water Circulation 108 (17): 419-420 1936 A Non-Invasive Hypothermia and Re-warming system Third European Emergency Medicine Conference, 2005 Ochsner Cardiologists “Cool” Heart Patients with ThermoSuit System Ochsner Press Release May 6, 2008
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