Hypothermia After Traumatic Brain Injury

Docherty et al present an ediorial on the report of the Prophylactic Hypothermia Trial to Lessen Traumatic Brain Injury-Randomized Clinical Trial (POLAR-RCT) by Cooper et al that describes an international, multicenter, randomized clinical trial of early therapeutic hypothermia after traumatic brain injury (TBI) to increase favorable functional outcomes. The hypothesis tested was that hypothermia could reduce intracranial pressure, inflammatory mediator release, free radical generation, and numerous other secondary injurious processes such that functional recovery would be improved. The results of the trial showed that early hypothermia did not improve long-term favorable functional outcomes in patients with moderate and severe TBI.