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Cool New Ideas to Save Brains

Posted by michael on from the don't-forget-your-hat dept.

An anonymous reader writes "An estimated 700,000 Americans suffer strokes each year. Researchers are looking for ways to cool the head of a stroke victim while keeping the rest of the body at normal temperature; they've developed a nifty cool helmet to accomplish this. Cooling the brain essentially puts the brain in 'pause' mode, giving doctors time before damage from oxygen starvation occurs. This is similar to the way in which near-drowning victims do much better if they are in freezing water rather than in warmer water."

5 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. But... by El · · Score: 4, Funny

    doesn't this give the victim a serious "ice cream headache"?

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    1. Re: But... by BWJones · · Score: 4, Informative

      So, I have been attending vicariously via conversations with friends and family that are at the meeting in San Diego. It turns out that yes, indeed one gets a royally painful headache when wearing these things, but when given the alternative......

      Actually, TPA treatment is dramatically effective if given within the time window of effectiveness, but as the article alluded to there are other issues with treatment of stroke via TPA, specifically one has to ensure that the stroke is an embolic stroke (meaning a blocking off of blood flow) as opposed to a hemorrhagic stroke (meaning a leak in blood vessels of the brain) as TPA can worsen a stroke that is hemorrhagic in nature. So, careful diagnosis becomes critical. Additionally, TPA administration itself can be a little tricky and can cause a fair risk of damage, but again the alternative.....

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  2. yeah, but how well will it really work? by InsomniacsDream · · Score: 5, Informative

    Considering that the blood is circulating through the brain multiple times per minute carrying warmer fluid from elsewhere in the body, and that the heat
    would have to be removed through the skull (not sure what the thermal conductivity of bone tissue is), it makes me wonder how effective this would really be at cooling the interior regions of the brain without cooling the other parts of the body as well. I would suspect it would only be marginally useful at cooling just the outer portions, and even that would be countered by the warmer blood flowing through it. I'm sure it sounds real good in their brochure.

  3. Head cooling by Pentagram · · Score: 5, Funny

    I suppose I should make some joke about overclocking but frankly it seems like too much work.

  4. Re:Try this by KitFox · · Score: 4, Informative

    At the same time, the amount of blood flowing through your hand, as opposed to the amount of blood flowing through your head, is substantially lower. So, your hand in ice water will chill more easily, since it has no outer bone casing, and less of an incoming source of heat, whereas your head has substantially more blood flowing to it, and, as he pointed out, a skull around the brain.

    Another thing to consider... Hold your hand only in ice water, and see if your arm doesn't become cold. As the original poster pointed out, the blood flowing out will be quite cold, and thus cool the rest of the body.

    And a final concen not mentioned, is the fact that the body's thermostat is up in the brain. When somebody is suffering from heat stroke, putting ice on the back of their neck will make them FEEL cooler all over, and actually worsen the situation, since it chills the brain and causes it to think "My body is cold! Must increase heat production!"

    Overall, if it was JUST the brain, no problem. But since the body is an integrated system, I wonder if this is really a proper approach.

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