The American Heart Association has adopted recommendations for a new emergency heart procedure. Patients who suffer cardiac arrest in Southwest Florida may benefit from a new procedure being offered right here in Lee County called therapeutic hypothermia. Critical care specialist Dr. Jeffery Scott says, "This is very rare and I don't think many other health systems have this in place."

Therapeutic hypothermia means that doctors significantly lower a heart attack patient's body temperature to help prevent brain damage. "We give them IV fluids, pack them in ice and give them cooling blankets to keep their temperature down so that their brain is preserved when they have a significant injury from a heart attack and are now in a coma," explains Dr. Scott.

During a heart attack, the blood supply to the brain gets cut off when the heart stops pumping - and that's what can cause brain injury. Cooling down the body reduces that risk. According to Dr. Scott, "there is a significant reduction in the poor neurological outcome."

What that means is with this new technology, people who survive a heart attack are more likely to avoid brain damage. Dr. Scott says, "you would have to have an arrest, a heart attack, in Lee County and be brought to a Lee County hospital; it is not a procedure where you would transfer someone from Naples or Punta Gorda."

Medical staff at Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center is prepared to perform this treatment on patients that meet the criteria. Therapeutic hypothermia lowers a patient's body temperature up to eight degrees below normal, and medication is given to reduce shivering and pain.