Baptist Health Implements Cooling Therapy for Cardiac Arrest Patients to Prevent Brain Damage
All Baptist Medical Centers to Begin Offering Cutting-Edge Treatment This Summer

Jacksonville, Florida, June 18, 2009 -- Baptist Medical Center Downtown recently began to offer therapeutic hypothermia -- also called cooling therapy -- to treat resuscitated cardiac arrest patients in order to reduce their risk of permanent brain damage or death. Baptist Medical Center Beaches, Baptist Medical Center Nassau and Baptist Medical Center South will implement the therapy in the next four to six weeks.

Cardiac arrest is the sudden, abrupt loss of heart function. Unless the individual is immediately resuscitated, the heart muscle suffers irreversible damage within minutes. With the sudden loss of heart function, the individual's brain is also deprived of oxygen.

"Cardiac arrest causes a whole brain stroke," explains Sean C. Orr, MD, a neurologist who serves as medical director of the Baptist Stroke Center at Baptist Downtown. "Those who are resuscitated, while surviving, may suffer neurologic damage ranging from mild cognitive loss all the way to major impairments such as blindness, permanent mental deficit, a long-term vegetative state or death. Until recently, we had no truly valid brain-protective therapy for these patients."

However, with cooling therapy -- endorsed by the American Heart Association for some types of cardiac arrest patients -- doctors may be able to reduce or even prevent permanent brain injury.

Therapeutic hypothermia involves cooling the patient a few degrees below normal body temperature. "This reduces the metabolic demands on the brain, which gives the heart a chance to recover," says Richard Stromberg, MD, chief of Emergency Services at Baptist Downtown. "It preserves brain tissue while the heart begins to pump more effectively, which, in general, leads to better outcomes."

One study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in February 2002 found that 55 percent of the patients who received cooling treatment had either moderate or no brain damage, compared to 39 percent who received standard treatment.

"In the Emergency Center, we use a test called the modified Rankin score to measure cognition following cardiac arrest," says Dr. Stromberg. "Studies have shown that the score improves measurably in patients who have been cooled following cardiac arrest, intracerebral bleeds or large-territory strokes.

"With cooling therapy, a patient's chance of brain damage can be reduced or eliminated and their chances of survival increased," he adds. "It's more likely that the person who is discharged from the hospital after cardiac arrest is close to the same person he was before the event, as far as brain function. This is increasingly becoming the standard of care."

Baptist Health is using an automatic surface cooling system that utilizes body wraps and cooling blankets. The computerized system offers precise temperature control for an extended time, usually 24-36 hours. "During therapeutic hypothermia therapy, the patient requires continuous monitoring by highly skilled nurses and physicians," says Debra Stiffler, MSN, RN, CAN, director of Baptist Heart Hospital.

"Baptist Health is dedicated to providing the latest proven technologies in cardiac and neurological health for our community," says Hugh Greene, president and CEO, Baptist Health. "Implementing cooling therapy for eligible cardiac arrest patients is part of our commitment to give people in our area a better chance at survival and a quality life."

Baptist Health is home to four Chest Pain Centers accredited by the Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC); they are located at Baptist Downtown, Baptist Beaches, Baptist Nassau and Baptist South. A Chest Pain Center is a hospital emergency center accredited by the SCPC that offers fast, evidence-based diagnosis and treatment for chest pain and heart attacks, provided by a highly skilled team with advanced knowledge in the management of heart attacks.

Baptist Health is also home to two Primary Stroke Centers -- one at Baptist Downtown and one at Baptist South. A Primary Stroke Center is a hospital certified by The Joint Commission for applying evidence-based protocols for diagnosing and treating stroke that have been shown to improve patient outcomes.