Unique surgery on frozen patients
Patients are to be placed into a state of suspended animation when they undergo emergency surgery by using a ground breaking technique that freezes their bodies to the brink of death
London: Patients are to be placed into a state of suspended animation when they undergo emergency surgery by using a ground breaking technique that freezes their bodies to the brink of death.
Surgeons are pioneering a method of inducing extreme hypothermia in trauma patients so that their bodies shut down entirely during major surgery, giving doctors more time to operate.
The technique helps to reduce the damage done to the brain and other organs while the patient's heart is not beating. Researchers are to begin the first human trials of the technique, which involves replacing a patient's blood with a cold solution to rapidly reduce body temperature.
Harvard research
The cold treatment, which is being developed at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, will result in patient's bodies being cooled to as low as 10 degrees Celsius. The normal human body temperature is 37 degrees Celsius and humans usually die rapidly if the core body temperature drops below 22 degrees Celsius.
Dr Hassan Alam, the surgeon who is leading the research, said trials of the technique in animals had shown it to be hugely successful.
