Sandy Springs, Georgia, gets new cardiac-care equipment

"Sandy Springs, Georgia, fire and ambulance rescue crews have started the new year with equipment that allows them to cool down the body of a cardiac-arrest patient to minimize brain damage. The program is considered innovative in that it provides this 'hypothermia treatment' before the patient reaches the hospital. 'Patients who suffer cardiac arrest out of the hospital most often die or have neurological damage because their brains have been starved of oxygen,' said Susan Kill, director of the emergency department at Saint Joseph's Hospital, one of the partners in the program. She said that in certain cases of cardiac arrest, in which a sufficient cardiac rhythm is restored, brain damage can be avoided by reducing the body core temperature by about 8 degrees Fahrenheit. This technique, accomplished through the use of cold packs placed on the body, minimizes brain injury, she said"