Therapeutic hypothermia does not improve outcomes in traumatic brain injury, study finds

Therapeutic hypothermia does not improve recovery or disability in people with traumatic brain injury when compared with standard care, a large European study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has shown.1

Hypothermia improves outcomes after cardiac arrest, and guidelines recommend its use. It has also been shown to reduce intracranial hypertension in people with traumatic brain injury, but its effect on reducing disability has previously been unclear.

To investigate this, researchers randomised adults …