European research is launched into hypothermia stroke treatment

A major phase III clinical trial of mild hypothermia to treat stroke patients by cooling the brain will be launched later this year after the consortium involved secured funding of some €11m (£9.2m; $14.5m) from the European Commission’s research programme.

The five year trial, called EUROHYP-1, will begin in November when 60 hospitals in 25 countries will use the technique to treat 1500 patients who have had an acute ischaemic stroke. It has already been tested in over 200 animal experiments and in pilot clinical trials involving around 100 volunteers. These have shown that cooling the brain within six …