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Trials to help brain injury in trauma patients

13 May 2009

Alistair Nichol
Dr Alistair Nichol. Photo by Neil Bennett.

A Monash University trial of a novel brain injury treatment in trauma patients, which involves putting a patient into controlled hypothermia, has attracted funding from the Victorian Neurotrauma Initiative.

Dr Alistair Nichol from the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine has received a Neurotrauma Fellowship of $AUD163,000 to fund his research into prophylactic (induced) hypothermia, which involves the rapid reduction of core body temperature after injury to 33 degrees Celsius.

The study will follow the neurological outcomes of 512 patients with severe traumatic brain injury over a six-month period.

Dr Nichol said the treatment was already commonly used in Australia to decrease brain injury in patients who had suffered cardiac arrest.

"Prophylactic hypothermia has great potential to reduce neurological damage and improve outcomes after severe head trauma," Dr Nichol said.

"Most post-traumatic adverse events that occur in the injured brain are highly temperature-sensitive.

"Hypothermia can influence these biomedical processes, reducing the brain's metabolic rate, decreasing swelling and bringing about positive effects on cerebral blood flow."

New international guidelines have suggested prophylactic hypothermia as a possible therapy.

"We know that there is a fine line between success and failure using this technique," Dr Nichol said.

"However if we're successful, prophylactic hypothermia could not only reduce the amount of damage caused, but it could also halt further injury in a patient, which will improve their quality of life and lessen the burden on our health system.

"It will also significantly improve the neurological outcomes of at least 200 Australians a year, making it clear that a trial with the capacity to demonstrate clinical benefits of the prophylactic hypothermia option is urgently required in Australia."

Dr Nichol will work with lead researcher Professor Jamie Cooper and Professor Rinaldo Bellomo from the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre on the project.