More than Seventy Percent of Top US Hospitals Control Patient Temperature with High-Tech Arct...( Automated non-invasive cooling av...),Health

Automated non-invasive cooling avoids DVT danger; precise control of

rewarming key to averting brain damage

LOUISVILLE, Colo., March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Led by the nation's top hospitals, adoption of the safest, most effective cooling technology-the non- invasive Arctic Sun(R)-is increasing rapidly. The number of top hospitals inducing hypothermia and then rewarming their critically ill patients with the Arctic Sun rose to more than 72 percent in 2007 from 60 percent the previous year.

Thirteen of the 18 top-ranked U.S. News & World Report hospitals (72.2 percent); 16 of the top 20 heart programs (80 percent); and 16 of the top 20 neurology programs cool and rewarm patients with Medivance's precise, automated high-tech Arctic Sun device.

"Fever kills brain cells. This notion that 'temperature is brain' has become a key concept used in the management of patients in our NeuroICU , says Dr. Andrew Kofke, Co-Director of Neurocritical Care at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, which is ranked among the nation's best overall hospitals. "I believe state -of-the-art temperature management, using devices such at the Arctic Sun cooling system, combined with pharmacological aids, is an essential element in prevention of secondary brain damage after a brain injury."

A growing body of clinical data published in the New England Journal of Medicine and other top-tier journals indicates that lowering body temperature to therapeutic levels, followed by slow rewarming, limits neurologic damage in a wide range of critically ill patients.

"Adoption of the Arctic Sun by the vast majority of the nation's top hospitals demonstrates that its the best temperature management system available today and validates our premise that safe, non-invasive cooling coupled with the ability to rewarm slowly and precisely holds great promise in improving patient outcomes," says Medivance CEO Robert Kline.

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