A new cooling pad enters the healthcare market, joining a growing number of cooling systems used to induce hypothermia in some emergency cardiac arrest scenarios — the new treatment attempts to halt potential brain damage in cardiac patients. Life Recovery Systems HD, Alexandria, LA, will introduce its ThermoSuit at the American Heart Association’s annual scientific sessions in Chicago Nov. 12-15.
The technique is backed by several studies concluding that cooling patients can spare them some of the serious and permanent disabilities that often follow cardiac arrest — reducing body temperature to prevent brain damage was also endorsed a year ago by the American Heart Association.
The Life Recovery device is comprised of an air mattress that rises along the edges and has a clear plastic cover, a Morris County, NJ newspaper preorted. Cold water is pumped through the mattress, seeping through a membrane lining the inside and the cover to coat a patient's body and bring down the temperature.
Similar to the ice water immersion technique that hospitals have used for years, a company spokesman says it is easier to use, more precise and will not leave puddles on an emergency room floor. Patients are taken out of the ThermoSuit after 30 to 40 minutes and kept cooled with fans and additional applications of cold water if necessary.
The FDA approved the ThermoSuit based on showings that it worked as well as other devices on the market but without specifying a specific use.
In cardiac arrest cases, where an hour without treatment is usually a death sentence, Life Recovery claims a speed advantage.
For more information, visit www.life-recovery.com