title: Mild hypothermia in improving multiple organ dysfunction after cardiac arrest.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Resuscitation after cardiac arrest (CA) with a whole-body ischemia-reperfusion injury causes brain injury and multiple organ dysfunction (MODS). This study aimed to determine whether mild systemic hypothermia could decrease multiple organ dysfunctions after resuscitation from cardiac arrest.
  
  
  METHODS
  The patients who had been resuscitated after cardiac arrest were reviewed. During the resuscitation they had been assigned to undergo therapeutic hypothermia (target temperature, 32°C to 34°C, measured in the rectum) over a period of 24 to 36 hours or to receive standard treatment with normothermia. Markers of different organ injury were evaluated for the first 72 hours after recovery of spontaneous circulation (ROSC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  At 72 hours after ROSC, 23 patients in the hypothermia group for whom data were available had favorable neurologic, myocardial, hepatic and pulmonic outcomes as compared with 26 patients in the normothermia group. The values of renal function were not significantly different between the two groups. However, blood coagulation function was badly injured in the hypothermia group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the patients who have been successfully resuscitated after cardiac arrest, therapeutic mild hypothermia can alleviate dysfunction after resuscitation from cardiac arrest.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215004, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215004, China.
authors.forename: Xu-Ming
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215004, China.
authors.forename: Li-Jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: Cardiac arrest; Ischemia reperfusion injury; Mild hypothermia; Multiple organ dysfunction