The process of cooling the body can limit potential damage to the brain, tissue and other organs. By adding new technology, French Hospital Medical Center (FHMC) joins an elite group of hospitals around the world that are adopting this life-saving technology. FHMC has added the Thermogard XP for Intravascular Temperature Management (IVTM), a state-of-the-art medical device that regulates the core body temperature by precisely cooling and warming critically ill patients suffering from cardiac arrest. Today, major medical societies recommend temperature management as the standard of care in the treatment of many critically ill patients. This technology, is accordance with the American Heart Association Guidelines, is a treatment for patients who have suffered cardiac arrest. Clinical studies have shown that ITVM in patients resuscitated after cardiac arrest helps to prevent neurological damage and improve outcomes.
This new IVTM system is a tremendous improvement upon the current method of surface cooling, which includes the use of ice packs and cooling blankets. The old technique was uncomfortable for patients and difficult to manage for caregivers. This new technology makes it possible to rapidly and efficiently control a patient’s temperature from the inside out. A catheter is placed in the central venous system, and fluid is circulated through balloons in the catheter, allowing for precise control of core temperature in critically ill patients. Physicians at FHMC believe this approach is superior to the obsolete, “outside-in” approach to cooling a patient’s core body temperature. “We owe it to our community to provide the best tools for improving outcomes for patients suffering from cardiac arrest”, says Mark Soll, MD, a local Pulmonologist and Critical Care physician. Dr. Soll adds, “This technology gives our health care providers the power and control they need to rapidly, safely, and effectively manage the core body temperature of those patients. The intravascular approach allows us to regulate body temperature to a degree of precision we’ve never seen before.” This new equipment is funded by our generous community members who have donated to the FHMC Foundation.
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