Freeze! Hypothermic medicine may save trauma patients
In normal circumstances hypothermia is something to be avoided, but the use of cold temperatures has become a staple at Baltimore's R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center.
The procedure, known as emergency preservation and resuscitation (EPR), includes pumping a patient's body full of a ice-cold saline solution.
"At this point, the patient, his circulatory system filled with icy salt water, will have no blood, no pulse, and no brain activity," according to the New Yorker. "He will remain in this state of suspended animation for up to an hour, while surgeons locate the bullet holes or stab wounds and sew them up. Then, after as much as sixty minutes without a heartbeat or a breath, the patient will be resuscitated."
After treatment is complete, patients will be resuscitated and a heart-lung bypass machine will restart the flow of blood, warming it over the course of a few hours. With warm blood and a shock of electricity, the patient is taken off bypass.
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Cara joined TriMed Media in 2016 and is currently a Senior Writer for Clinical Innovation & Technology. Originating from Detroit, Michigan, she holds a Bachelors in Health Communications from Grand Valley State University.