NHLBI Begins Study of Body Cooling for Pediatric Cardiac Arrest

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the NIH, has launched a study investigating the effectiveness of body cooling in infants and children who have had cardiac arrest. Body cooling, also known as therapeutic hypothermia, uses special blankets and water-circulating machines to control patients’ body temperature with the goal of preventing neurological damage associated with cardiac arrest and increasing the chance of survival. The treatment has demonstrated success with adults and newborns, but it has not been studied in children.