Read an interesting news article

LINK

Any comments?

Some related reading

Cilio MR, Ferriero DM. Synergistic neuroprotective therapies with hypothermia.

Semin Fetal Neonatal Med. 2010 Mar 6. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID:

20207600. LINK

Cattano D, Williamson P, Fukui K, Avidan M, Evers AS, Olney JW, Young C.

Potential of xenon to induce or to protect against neuroapoptosis in the

developing mouse brain. Can J Anaesth. 2008 Jul;55(7):429-36. PubMed PMID:

18591700. LINK TO DOWNLOAD

Ma D, Hossain M, Chow A, Arshad M, Battson RM, Sanders RD, Mehmet H, Edwards

AD, Franks NP, Maze M. Xenon and hypothermia combine to provide neuroprotection

from neonatal asphyxia. Ann Neurol. 2005 Aug;58(2):182-93. PubMed PMID: 16049939. LINK

Very interesting article, indeed!

I had not heard about the potential benefits of Xenon at all, this is completely new to me!

Will be interesting to follow future research, I know prof Marianne Thoresen is a star. (Norwegian star, living in the UK)

Interesting study, but I think it's a bit unfortunate that they don't compare hypothermia+xenon with hypothermia + any other anaesthetic. If outcome in the HT+Xenon-group is better than in the HT-group we still don't know if it's Xenon as a gas or if it's Xenon as an anaesthetic that is the reason. When treating adults with hypothermia after cardiac arrest the patients are deeply sedated to decrease brain metabolism and oxygen demand. Since Xenon is the most expensive anaesthetic agent out there it would be interesting if we can achieve the same result with a much cheaper mainstream anaesthetic, like sevoflurane or some iv-drug.

...cheaper mainstream anaesthetic, like sevoflurane or some iv-drug.

I found a study also studying sevoflurane

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18946288

(Note: The full article is free to download !)

interesting!!!

Promising but very expensive (not for developing countries), may be Hypothermia + Erythopoietin is more affordable (our center will report results of a recent trial soon).