Hypothermia treatment does not help traumatic brain injury, study finds

Brain cooling does not benefit people who have a brain injury, a randomised study has found, and it should no longer be used in this context, researchers have advised.1

Prophylactic hypothermia has been thought to help reduce the cerebral inflammatory and biochemical cascades associated with traumatic brain injuries and to improve neurological outcomes in patients, but evidence has been conflicting. A 2007 meta-analysis gave a low grade recommendation for using prophylactic hypothermia after severe traumatic brain injury, although the largest randomised controlled trial included in the review showed no benefit. And a trial this year found that hypothermia for …