Posted on 09/14/2007 5:47:15 AM PDT by kellynla
An experimental body-cooling treatment used on an injured National Football League player offers promise for preventing paralysis in people who sustain severe spinal cord injuries, researchers said yesterday.
But the value of "modest hypothermia," the treatment used on Kevin Everett of the Buffalo Bills after he was injured in a game Sunday, is questioned by doctors who want to see more evidence that it helps those patients.
The idea behind the treatment is to lower the body temperature — but not by too much in order to avoid complications — to restrict damage to the spinal cord.
"Right now, it's not mainstream medicine," said Dr. Barth Green, co-founder of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami, who has helped develop the treatment.
"But it's an amazing technique," said Dr. Green, who has consulted with Everett's doctors. "I think it's very likely he's going to walk again. Nothing is guaranteed in life. But every day, he's getting better."
Everett, 25, sustained the injury tackling another player in an apparently routine play. He is being treated at Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y.
Doctors initially feared Everett would be paralyzed, but said he had now, among other things, moved his legs and wiggled his toes in what they called a surprising recovery. Doctors said his spinal cord was not severed. They removed him from his ventilator Wednesday.
Doctors quickly gave the injured player cold saline intravenously to drop his body temperature to 92 degrees from the normal 98.6 degrees.
"What normally happens is over the next hours and days, the spinal cord itself undergoes massive self-destruction from swelling, from more hemorrhaging, from chemicals that sort of eat up the spinal cord once the damage is started," Dr. Green said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I heard about this on FOX News and thought it was very interesting. Hopefully the player will recover!
Cool.
Amazing work. I know they lower the body temperature for some having brain aneurism surgery. I know a woman who did remarkably well after going through it. The cold slows down everything and halts the inflammation, which is a primary cause of permanent damage.
Very interesting.
He appears to be making much faster strides in his recovery.
Okay, someone with more military history can chime in and correct me. But didn’t they make similar discoveries about the affect of lowered bodied temperatures on soldiers injured during the Falklands War? I know I heard/read somewhere that the freezing temperatures helped save some of them because it slowed down the body processes.
Yes, as it concerned bleeding. This isn't so much a new idea as a new application. Injury from spinal injury is usually from localized inflammation that essentially chokes the nerves.
Ironically, much knowledge was gained from Mengele’s hypothermia experiments.
Our overlords believe we have too many hospital beds in Buffalo and are forcing the closure of Gates Circle and two other local hospitals. An example of how the government will increasingly limit our choices as it gets its grubby, bureaucratic hands on our health care.
Thanks for the link.
You’re a good guy, I don’t care what they say about cha. LOL
Kelly
My father-in-law was severely injured during the Battle of the Bulge and left bleeding in the field. A medic applied a tourniquet to his leg, but it was in the midst of battle, etc. His buddies returned to get him sometime in the wee hours of the morning; he said his life was saved because he did not bleed to death due to the cold.
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