Cooling Spinal Cord May Prevent Injury
Cooling down the spinal cord during high-risk aneurysm surgery hopefully will prevent the potential paralysis caused by a lack of blood supply during the procedure.
Doctors at UAB and three other U.S. institutions are the only ones employing topical cooling for spinal cord protection while attempting repairs of rupture-prone aneurysms in the chest and abdominal area.
Vascular surgeon David Whitley, M.D., says the specialized team of doctors and nurses use a form of bypass surgery to keep blood going to vital organs and the legs while the affected artery is clamped off. "Generally, the spinal cord cannot be adequately supplied with blood during the operation so we are introducing a novel method of cooling the spinal cord."
Contact Hank Black, Media Relations, 205-934-8938 or [email protected].
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