Cooling Protects Brain in Injured Children

This is a well-known phenomenon, a Chinese study from 2009 showed that moderate hypothermia (lowering the core temperature of the patient 10-degrees or so) showed improvements in intracranial temperature, intracranial pressure and other markers after severe brain injury. The temperature lowering was done for 72 hours after admission to the hospital and was considered safe in that clinical setting and successful.

Another study from 2009 shows that hypothermia when used with children suffering from brain injury hypothermia reduces the damage caused to the brain post-accident. Damage caused by “oxidative stress” is a secondary form of injury that goes on in the brain following traumatic injury and which could have severe effects. The lowering of the temperature lowered the rate at which oxidated stress occurred and thus resulted in a better outcome for those treated with hypothermia.