When Getting the Cold Shoulder is a Good Thing

Cold-ShoulderFrom the Winter 2012 StayHealthy publication

Hypothermia (a body temperature below 95 degrees*) is a serious condition and is usually something to avoid. However, research has shown that lowering the body temperature in people who experience cardiac arrest can help prevent brain damage and increase the odds of survival.

Induced hypothermia therapy, which we recently introduced at Porter, can stop the processes that damage brain tissue when the heart suddenly stops beating, explained Bonnie Turman, MS, RN, ACNS-BC, Cardiovascular Clinical Nurse Specialist and Critical Care-Clinical Educator. When the heart isn't beating, blood doesn't circulate and oxygen doesn't get to the body. When the brain doesn't get oxygen, brain damage can occur. Turman went on to say that the American Heart Association has endorsed hypothermia treatment and recommends it as acceptable, safe and considers it effective.

At Porter, when a patient presents in cardiac arrest or when the heartbeat has been restored but the patient remains unresponsive, the Emergency Department follows a protocol to determine if induced hypothermia is a viable treatment option and, if so, at what point to begin it. When hypothermia therapy is warranted, the patient is moved to the ICU where a catheter is inserted. Cold saline runs through the catheter and back to a cooling device, cooling the patient's circulating blood.

The patient is kept asleep, and the internal body temperature is cooled to just over 91 degrees* for 24 hours, said Turman. Over the next 12 hours the patient is gradually re-warmed. During the 36 hours that the patient is undergoing the therapy, he or she is carefully monitored and under constant watch by two nurses.

As Turman explained, a multi-disciplinary team comprised of dedicated individuals from emergency services and the following departments are instrumental in providing this new service at Porter:

  • Emergency
  • ICU
  • Respiratory therapy
  • Pharmacy
  • Cardiology


Visit the Porter Health System website
Valparaiso Campus
814 LaPorte Avenue
Valparaiso, IN 46383
Phone: 219-263-4600

Treatment for cardiac arrest is more than just getting the heart beating again. It also involves limiting damage to the brain and other body parts, so we all take an active role in treating the patient, she said.

How Induced Hypothermia Works

  • Induced hypothermia therapy lowers the body temperature
  • The lower the body temperature, the lower the patient's metabolism
  • When the patient's metabolism is slowed so is the body's demand for oxygen and other nutrients that tissues need to survive.

*Temperatures expressed in Fahrenheit