October 13, 2009 – The Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital with guest national faculty will present The Miracle on Ice: Therapeutic Hypothermia for Cardiac Arrest Patient Dec. 3-4, a conference that will draw physicians from across the country to learn how innovative rescue and cooling programs are saving lives and preserving brain function in cardiac arrest victims.
“The Minneapolis Heart Institute’s ‘Cool It’ therapeutic hypothermia program has become the national model for emergency cardiac resuscitation,” said Kevin J. Graham, M.D., cardiologist and president of the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. “With our partners around the state, we were the first in the world to offer therapeutic hypothermia systematically to patients throughout a region who are then transferred post arrest to a quaternary referral center. Our survival and recovery numbers are even more impressive because the majority of the patients in this program are transferred to us after initial stabilization at a regional hospital.”
Karl Kern, M.D., of the University of Arizona, a national expert in emergency cardiac resuscitation and a conference speaker, says progress has been made in survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with improved CPR techniques, but better survival rates are possible. “The next great opportunity for improving outcomes from cardiac arrest will be through more aggressive and appropriate post-resuscitation care,” he said. “Optimal post-resuscitation care includes the routine use of mild hypothermia combined with early coronary angiography and possible angioplasty. Where such is currently being practiced, survival rates of 70 percent have been reported, with 80 percent of such survivors being neurologically intact.”
Dr. Graham says more than 100 programs across the nation have visited Minneapolis to learn about the MHI Level One MI program.
The Miracle on Ice conference will be held from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Dec. 3-4, at the Marriott Minneapolis Airport, 2020 American Boulevard East, Bloomington, Minn.
For more information: www.mplsheart.com/miracleonice