NIH supports ice slurry ...( urry would effectively cool critical or...),Health

In the procedure, slurry would be inserted into the lungs, cooling the surrounding blood. Medics must perform chest compressions to circulate the cooled blood, allowing it to reach the brain and preserve brain cells.

Data collected by the Argonne-university team has shown that the ice slurry cools the brain by 2 to 5 degrees Celsius very quickly. The process appears to keep the brain cool for an hour, which in a real scenario would give the medics and the doctors more time to revive normal blood flow and brain activity. This would reduce the brain damage to little or none.

Kasza and Becker said the ice slurry procedure will still be secondary to defibrillation. In a real scenario, medics at a scene would immediately start with the defibrillator, but if the heart has no reaction, the medics would begin immediate cool down.

The ice slurry slowly melts in the body and is removed with a suction device on the end of the endotracheal tube.

Other goals remain for slurry, such as using it for stroke treatment, and there are many other questions researchers need to answer before continuing with tests: What is the optimal cooling level of ice slurry? What are the correct timing and protocols? What are the appropriate toxicity levels, and how much of the brain survives after ice slurry is used?

"With the grant," said Kasza, "we can further develop our tools, make even better slurry, and hopefully move closer to the point where it's possible to do human trials."

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Contact: Katie Williams
kwilliams@anl.gov
630-252-7997
DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
13-Sep-2002