Patients of heart failure may find relief in a treatment known as hypothermic therapy, which cools the body following heart failure to avoid the brain from suffering of traumatic brain injury. It is common for many heart failure patients to suffer from brain damage or fatality following a heart failure incident due to the loss of oxygen.
Medical professionals recently began administering a new method of therapeutic hypothermia to cardiac arrest patients and found that the method was successful compared to previous statistics, which included "only 10 to 15 percent [of cardiac arrest patients] recover without brain damage," according to news reports.
The therapy has been used since the late 1950's "but was subsequently abandoned because of uncertain benefit and difficulties with its use," according to a 2003 report on the therapy from the American Heart Association (AHA). Additionally, hospitals across the state of New York are beginning to implement the therapy within their hospitals as a standard practice, however, the implementation is being met with hostility as the costs are too great for some smaller and poorer hospitals to utilize the treatment.
Cooling Treatment for Cardiac Patients
According to The New York Times, therapeutic hypothermia is "believed to reduce the chances of brain damage and increase the chances of survival, even if it means bypassing the emergency rooms," however, "only those cardiac arrest patients revived enough to show a pulse and whose heart problems are not associated with some other trauma are eligible for the cooling treatment."
Studies from both the American Heart Association and The New England Journal of Medicine have boasted the therapies' usefulness finding "55 percent of the patients who received the cooling treatment ended up with moderate or no brain damage, compared with 39 percent who received standard treatment."
Heart Failure Causes
There are an array of heart failure causes including the following, according to the American Heart Association:
* coronary artery disease
* past heart attacks
* high blood pressure
* abnormal heart valves
* heart muscle disease
* inflammation
* congenital heart disease
* severe lung disease
* diabetes
* severe anemia
* hyperthyroidism
* arrhythmia/dysrhythmia
Additionally, there is a unique and unintended side effect associated with the consumption of a type 2 diabetes drug, Avandia, which has been found to increase the risk of heart failure and heart damage among patients.
In a New England Journal of Medicine article from 2007, Avandia (rosiglitazone) was found to be the cause of heart failure among patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also issued a health public safety advisory on the drug's side effects, which also includes the onset of a early osteoporosis among patients and the increased risk of bone loss among women patients.
The severity of the Avandia dangers may require a patient to locate not only a medical professional but a pharmaceutical lawyer as well, as a free legal consultation as to the development of an Avandia class action lawsuit may be necessary.
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