Temperature Management System Protects Body from Ischemic Injury

A new patient cooling system provides hospitals and emergency caregivers a means of reducing and controlling patient temperature in a safe, noninvasive, and effective way.

The WElkins EMT/ICU System is comprised of both a field (EMT) and hospital (ICU) conditioning units, which enable ultra-early, noninvasive therapeutic hypothermia across the continuum of care, from the critical minutes after an injury to the intensive care unit (ICU) and recovery. The liquid-cooled, thermoregulatory device controls patient temperature within a range of 30 °C to 37 °C, wherein the therapeutic effects of cooling have the potential to minimize damage to the brain, heart, and other vital organs from hypoxia, ischemia, and return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), which can be crucial to patient survival and recovery.


The EMT Conditioning Unit is a lightweight, rugged, battery-powered device that delivers temperature-controlled coolant to a patient-contacting Cooling Headliner, resulting in heat exchange between the coolant and the patient. The System’s noninvasive, surface cooling technology is easy to use, deploys in less than one minute, and delivers highly efficient cooling in both prehospital and in-hospital settings, enabling ultra-early induction of therapeutic hypothermia in the field, at the point of injury.

The ICU Conditioning Unit is an enhanced version of the EMT Conditioning Unit, designed for use in the hospital setting; it features a touchscreen graphical user interface (GUI), microprocessor-driven automatic temperature control, and patient temperature monitoring. Both conditioning units utilize the same head-neck pad with pneumatic over-pressure to improve patient contact and enhance cooling rate. The Headliner is integrated with a universal cervical collar for streamlined deployment in the field and during emergency medical transport. The WElkins EMT/ICU System is a product of WElkins (Roseville, CA, USA), and has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“With these devices, WElkins is introducing a new standard in patient temperature management, one that extends active cooling technology to the prehospital setting for those critical moments after an injury, in the field and during transit, all the way through to the ICU and recovery,” said Christopher Blodgett, Chief Operating Officer of WElkins. “Therapeutic hypothermia has the potential to save lives and limit long-lasting neurological damage, so we are eager to see the EMT/ICU System to market and fulfill WElkins’ mission to transform human survival and quality life.”

Therapeutic cooling is among the most potent interventions for hypoxic-ischemic injury, a broad constellation of conditions ranging from cardiac and respiratory arrest to carbon monoxide (CO) and other poisonous gas exposure, and appears to limit tissue damage by reducing oxygen metabolism and inflammation while maintaining cell membrane integrity. For heart attack survivors, hypothermia after cardiac arrest (HACA) increases patients’ chances of survival by 31% and quality of survival by 41%.

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