Heart Disease In The News

Hypothermia used for the first time in heart attack
February 23, 2001

An investigational technique using a special catheter to cool the heart during a heart attack has seen its first use in an Australian patient.  The technique, aimed at slowing damage to heart cells, was used in a 51 year old man in Melbourne, admitted to the hospital with a massive heart attack.  The patient had his heart cooled from 37 to 33 degrees Centegrade while angioplasty and stenting was performed.  The heart was then re-warmed. The patient is said to be doing well.

Cooling the heart in order to to delay cardiac cell death during a heart attack, while more definitive therapy is carried out, is generally felt to be a promising approach. The catheter used in the study was developed by Radiant Medical, Inc., of Redwood City, California.  Testing with this new device in the United States is scheduled to begin this year.