New Suit Cools Patients

A new thermal-regulating system helps accomplish temperature reduction and monitoring in hyperthermic patients.

The ThermoSuit cools the body by providing a thin layer of rapidly flowing liquid coolant in direct contact with the skin. The system consists of a disposable body suit, a multilumen umbilicus hose that connects the body enclosure to a pump assembly (pump drive units and reservoir bag), and a pump controller console with touchscreen display. Hyperthermic patients are placed into the mattress of the body suit, which conforms to their shape and size upon inflation. A polyurethane top sheet is attached to the rim of the inflated suit via Velcro strips and covers the patient to neck level.

A target temperature is entered on the touch screen for initiation of cooling therapy. Both body suit components feature built-in flow channels that allow water to be pumped against the patient's skin for heat exchange. Cold water is allowed to circulate through the top and bottom of the body suit and drip onto the patient before its return through the mattress' porous lining to the water reservoir.

The temperature of patients undergoing therapy can be monitored using an attached esophageal or nasopharyngeal temperature probe. Once the target temperature has been reached, an alert is sounded before water is purged from the body suit. Water can also be purged by manual control.

The ThermoSuit is a product of Life Recovery Systems (Alexandria, LA, USA).

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that unconscious adult patients with spontaneous circulation after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest should be cooled to 32- 34°C for 12-24 hours when the initial rhythm was ventricular fibrillation. Such cooling may also be beneficial for other rhythms or in-hospital cardiac arrest.



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Life Recovery Systems