'Brain Cooling' can Help Treat Head Injuries and Stroke

Cooling treatment or lowering the brain temperature can help treat head injury and stroke. The medically induced cooling lowers the temperature in the brain, which helps in treating injury and stroke.

Lowering the temperature in the brain can help treat head injuries and stroke, as it helps to relieve pressure, prevent swelling and further damage, reveals a new study.

The study also showed that the cooling treatment may help babies at risk of long-term damage from birth complications, without having to cool their entire body.

Brain Cooling to Treat Epilepsy
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‘Brain cooling is the new potential therapy that helps to treat head injury and stroke.’

Infants suffering from Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a form of brain damage caused due to lack of oxygen -- can be given cooling therapy to reduce their core brain temperature from a normal level of 37 degree Celsius to 36 degree Celsius -- which is recognised as low enough to aid recovery, according to the study.

In the study, published in journal Scientific Reports, the team developed a robust 3D model which can predict temperature and blood flow.

Using computer simulations, the model scans the entire brain or parts of it showing the brain neuron connections.

Brain Cooling Therapy Insights Offers Hope for Treating Epilepsy
Computer simulation techniques provide insight into brain cooling treatment or focal cooling to treat epileptic seizures

The model takes into account simultaneous flow, heat transfer and metabolism between arteries, veins and brain tissue in three dimensions throughout the organ.

"Our sophisticated model should enable speedy progress in developing optimum treatments involving brain cooling, and support the development of studies on brain health," said study lead Prashant Valluri from University's School of Engineering.

When applied to adult brains, the model predicted cooling was able to precipitate a potentially beneficial 0.5 degree Celsius drop, in line with clinical observations.

It could also be modified to imitate the effects of stroke and also impact of the drugs administered, the researchers said.

Source-IANS