… but don’t make it too cold.

The odds of recovery from brain injuries and vegetative states may be dramatically improved simply by restoring normal brain temperatures, according to a new medical theory published in the August issue of Medical Science Monitor.

The study was inspired by the case of 53-year-old woman who suffered a heart attack and oxygen deprivation of the brain. In the course of a few days she slipped from consciousness to coma and then to a vegetative state. For the following thirty-one months she was receiving oxygen through a tube in her trachea.

But one day it was noticed that the oxygen in the tube was over thirty degrees below body temperature, due to an equipment setup that appears to be common in many hospitals and nursing homes. Acting on the speculation that such chilled air could not be good for the patient, the tube was removed. One month later, the woman came out of the vegetative state and was verbal and able to respond to questions.

Inspired by this case, the authors began to investigate the physiological link between lung temperatures and brain temperatures. They found that chilled tracheal air will produce chilled aortic blood which will in turn produce a significant drop in brain tissue temperatures.

Because the path from the aorta to the brain is short, a drop in brain temperatures may occur even though the core body temperature otherwise appears to be normal. But even a small drop in the brain temperatures can produce important deviations in neurochemistry and the endocrine system. These changes, the authors suggest, may not only inhibit recovery they may even produce additional problems, including symptoms commonly associated with the poorly understood condition called a “persistent vegetative state.”

Interesting.

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