Profound Hypothermia for Intracranial Surgery: Case Report

Aortic arch aneurysm: Resection and replacement: protection of the nervous system

“…Intermittent arrest of the circulation at temperatures between 15°C and 200 C for 8-minute periods, allowing 5-minute intervals for recovery, has been safely developed in neurosurgery as an aid to the exposure and clipping of cerebral aneurysms (Gonski et al, 1964;Connolly et al, 1965). This technique, which proved time-consuming and predisposed to postoperative oozing, has now been supplanted in our unit by intermittent temporary occlusion, under mild surfaceinduced hypothermia, of the origins of the brachiocephalic branches from the aorta which are exposed simultaneously with the neurosurgical operation in progress by means of an upper sternotomy incision by the thoracic surgeon working independently of the neurosurgeon (Gye et al, 1969).…”