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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."

2 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. 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.

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

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