Survival After Prolonged Submersion in Cold Water Without Neurologic Sequelae

Recent Advances in Hypothermia Researcha

“…These conclusions are supported by the limited number of adult case reports available. Three patients aged 21–31 yr were submersed for between 17 min to 25 min and were admitted to hospital with rectal temperatures ranging from 23–32°C 59–61 . All were resuscitated and rewarmed with successful outcome.…”

Induced Hypothermia in Intensive Care Medicine

“…It is known that hypothermia induced prior to, or during, cardiac arrest has a protective effect on the brain, with seemingly "miraculous" recoveries after ice-water near-drownings 66,67 and burial under snow 68 , but there are few reports of the use in humans of IH after return of spontaneous circulation following cardiac arrest. The only published experience in adults is from Benson et al, who in 1958 reported good outcomes when IH was applied in four patients who were resuscitated from cardiac arrest 69 .…”

Mild Resuscitative Hypothermia to Improve Neurological Outcome After Cardiac Arrest

“…6 The efficacy of hypothermia in preserving neurological function when instituted before and during certain no-flow cardiovascular states has been well documented both clinically and experimentally in dog outcome models since the 1950s. 3,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Recently, mild hypothermia (34°C) was discovered to mitigate brain damage significantly when induced before, 3 during, or after cardiac arrest. 14,15 A recently initiated European multicenter trial aims to investigate the effect of mild resuscitative hypothermia for a duration of 24 hours on cerebral recovery in humans after cardiac arrest.…”