Brain injury cooling technique on trialRSS Feed

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are to be treated with a "revolutionary" new cooling technique going on trial at Imperial College.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is taking part in a worldwide study of nearly two thousand patients who have sustained severe head injuries resulting in high pressure in the skull, which can lead to long-term brain injury.

Patients will be intravenously injected with a cooling fluid, which works by the brain being "put to sleep" and therefore requiring less oxygen.

Studies with babies have already indicated that the cooling process can work.

Dr Anthony Gordon, who is leading the study at the Trust, said: "We already know that in the short-term, brain cooling helps reduce swelling and pressure in the skull but we want to see whether it increases patients' chances of being able to lead healthy and active lives in the long-term."

More than 50,000 people a year are hospitalised as a result of severe head injury, he added.

Recently, the brain injury charity Headway found that 92 per cent of hospitals in the UK do not meet head injury guidelines.

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