Cold-hearted treatment

A specially-engineered ice slurry could be used to cool the brain and major organs, delaying cell death and giving doctors and paramedics more time to revive heart attack and accident victims.

The technique, developed at the Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago, uses a highly fluid mixture of small ice particles suspended in a saline solution. This is injected into the patient to rapidly cool the blood of targeted organs.

When a person suffers a cardiac arrest, brain cells start dying rapidly from lack of oxygen after 10–12 minutes. But the metabolism and chemical processes of cooled cells slows dramatically; this is why people who have been rescued after falling into icy water can often be revived after being submerged for many minutes.

In future doctors would use a defibrillator to try and restart the heart, but would begin rapid cooldown if this method failed.

Using ice slurry, the brain can be cooled by two to five degrees C in a few minutes. Once the ice is delivered, the brain stays cool for around an hour, giving doctors time to restore normal blood flow and reduce brain damage.