title: Is there still a role for hypothermia in neurocritical care?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Therapeutic hypothermia (i.e. induced body core temperature ≈ 33-35°C) in neurological patients with cerebrovascular disease and traumatic brain injury is a controversially discussed issue in the literature. In this review, we have included the most recently published research covering the use of therapeutic hypothermia and targeted temperature management in neurologic diseases and translated the results into a clinical decision support for the professional healthcare community.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Recent findings from large multicenter studies investigating therapeutic hypothermia in patients with various acute neurologic diseases have revealed that although short-term and long-term temperature modulation on different temperature levels is feasible with the latest device technology, the effect on outcome is controversial.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is overwhelming evidence that fever is an independent predictor of morbidity and mortality in patients with acute severe neurologic diseases. Although therapeutic hypothermia has been proven to be a potent neuroprotective measure acting on various levels in animal models, many questions such as optimal depth of target temperature, speed of rewarming, duration of cooling and management of side-effects accompanying therapeutic hypothermia are unresolved in human. Therefore, the application of therapeutic hypothermia outside of strictly supervised clinical trials must be carefully considered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Broessner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D005334:Fever; D006801:Humans; D007036:Hypothermia, Induced; D023421:Models, Animal; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000628:therapy*