Soldier who suffered cardiac arrest saved by staying "cool"

‘Cool’ therapy saves life of soldier in Iraq
By Jill Laster - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday May 8, 2011 9:16:56 EDT
It was an incredible task: Take a patient whose condition usually means slim odds of survival, perform an unconventional medical procedure in Iraq and conduct a cross-continental flight to help save his life.

But what’s perhaps more incredible is that the patient — a soldier who suffered cardiac arrest outside Ramadi, Iraq — survived and is now recovering at home after only a short stay at Brooke Army Medical Center, Texas, according to the medics who treated him.

The Air Force Theater Hospital emergency staff used a procedure called therapeutic hypothermia — the body of the patient is cooled from the normal 98.6 degrees to between 89 and 93 degrees — to save the soldier at Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

At a stateside hospital, doctors have high-tech equipment and cooling blankets to drop a patient’s body temperature. At the theater hospital, the medical staff had to rely on their resourcefulness and determination.

The doctors used the University of Pennsylvania’s website to find more information on post-cardiac resuscitation care. And virtually everyone on the medical staff pitched in wherever they could: blending ice that had come from the hospital cafeteria, packing ice-filled baggies around the soldier and hauling a fan from the basement gym to help keep him cool.
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‘Cool’ therapy saves life of soldier in Iraq