GB2519938A

GB2519938A - Cardiac arrest treatment

Info

Publication number: GB2519938A
Application number: GB1316043.7A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jullian Joshua Preston-Powers; Bernard William Hanning
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2013-09-09
Filing date: 2013-09-09
Publication date: 2015-05-13
Also published as: GB201316043D0

Abstract

An upper-body shaped cooling device which holds a fluid, for example a liquid or air. Preferably the device has one or more pockets that are filled with an endothermic liquid. The endothermic liquid comes from a pack (Fig 2) containing two or more components separated by a breakable membrane which when broken contact each other and undergo an endothermic reaction. The result mixture is injected into the cardiac arrest rescue device. The pockets may be manufactured from a multi-layered aluminized material. The device is worn over the chest and heart area of a patient after cardiac arrest prior to hospital admission. After use the pockets can be emptied and warm liquid inserted. A method of use to induce therapeutic hypothermia is also claimed.

Description

CARDIAC ARREST TREATMENT

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to devices and methods for the treatment of cardiac arrest.

Background to the Invention

Cardiac arrest with widespread cerebral ischemia frequently leads to severe neurologic impairment. Research was carried out into whether mild systemic hypothermia increases the rate of neurologic recovery after resuscitation from cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. In a multicentre trial by The Hypothermia after Cardiac Arrest Study Group with blinded assessment of the outcome (N Engl.1 Med 2002; 3 46:549-556 February 21, 2002D01: lO.1056/NEJMoaOI2689), patients who had been resuscitated after cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation were randomly assigned to undergo therapeutic hypothermia (target temperature, 32°C to 34°C, measured in the bladder) over a period of 24 hours or to receive standard treatment with normothermia. The primary end point was a favourable neurologic outcome within six months after cardiac arrest; secondary end points were mortality within six months and the rate of complications within seven days.

Seventy-five of the 136 patients in the hypothermia group for whom data were available (55 percent) had a favourable neurologic outcome (cerebral-performance category, 1 [good recovery] or 2 [moderate disability]), as compared with 54 of 137 (39 percent) in the normothermia group (risk ratio, 1.40; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.08 to 1.81). Mortality at six months was 41 percent in the hypothermia group (56 of 137 patients died), as compared with 55 percent in the normothermia group (76 of 138 patients; risk ratio, 0.74; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.58 to 0.95). The complication rate did not differ significantly between the two groups. In patients who have been successfully resuscitated after cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation, therapeutic mild hypothermia increased the rate of a favourable neurologic outcome and reduced mortality.

In the field, there is limited or no access to electricity to power conventional saline cooling devices and the sooner a cardiac arrest victim's heart and core temperature is cooled, preferably within the critical Golden Hour, even by one or two degrees, the better the patient's final outcome.

Statements of the Invention

According to the present invention there is provided an upper-body shaped cooling device that holds a fluid. Preferably, the device is multi-layered.

Preferably, the device includes one or more pockets for containing a fluid.

The fluid may be a liquid or is air or another gas.

The present invention also provides a body cooling kit comprising a device according to the invention and a pack containing two or more components which, when contacted together undergo an endothermic reaction.

The pack preferably contains two pockets containing the components and separated by a seal which when ruptured allows the contents of the pockets to contact each other.

The present invention further provides a method of cooling the body of a person comprising providing a kit of the invention, causing the components of the pack to contact each other, transferring the resultant mixture to the device and applying the device to the upper body of the person.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The accompanying drawings are as follows: Figure 1 shows a device of the invention; Figure 2 shows a pack or packet for use with the device of Figure 1; and Figure 3 shows the device of Figure 1 positioned on a subject.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Ammonium nitrate and urea (andlor other known soluble solids that result in endothermic reactions) are stored on one side of the packet shown in Figure 2 and H20 (saline water) on the other side. A frangible seal separates the reagents from one another down the centre of the packet. At a threshold magnitude equating to reasonable hand pressure, the seal is broken and there results integration of the two sides into one, The resulting mixture, undergoing endothermic chemical reaction within the portable endothermic chemical pack is then injected into the inflatable cardiac arrest rescue endothermic device shown in Figure 1. The device is made of a multi-layered aluminized material to aid thermal conductivity.

One or preferably two of these devices are then placed against the patient's back andlor chest. The resulting endothermic energy is as cold as -4 degrees Celsius. The or each device can then be emptied and refilled with warm water andlor air to effect body re-warming. In the case of air, the aluminium in the materials causes an oscillation between the opposing layers that generates and magnifies existing body heat to, again, reach a normothermic state at circa 37 degrees Celsius.

The above described device affords a victim of cardiac arrest or stroke immediate therapeutic hypothermia prior to hospital admission. It is disposable and provides one use per patient.

Claims

CLAIMS1. An upper-body shaped cooling device that holds a fluid.
2. A device according to Claim 1, wherein the structure is multi-layered.
3. A device according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the structure includes one or more pockets for containing a fluid.
4. A device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the fluid is a liquid or is air or another gas.
5. A cooling device substantially as described with reference to Figures 1 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.
6. A body cooling kit comprising a device according to any of the preceding claims and a pack containing two or more components which, when contacted together undergo an endothermic reaction.
7. A kit according to Claim 6, wherein the pack contains two pockets containing the components and separated by a seal which when ruptured allows the contents of the pockets to contact each other.
8. A body cooling kit substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.
9. A method of cooling the body of a person comprising providing a kit according to any of Claims 610 8, causing the components of the pack to contact each other, transferring the resultant mixture to the device and applying the device to the upper body of the person.