• Michael Holzer.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: michael.holzer@meduniwien.ac.at.
• Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol. 2013 Sep 1;27(3):335-46.

AbstractMore than 10 years ago, the randomised studies of therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest showed significant improvement of neurological outcome and survival. Since then, it has become clear that most of the possible adverse events of therapeutic hypothermia are mild and can easily be controlled by proper administration of intensive care. Although implementation of this effective therapy is quite successful, many questions of the exact treatment protocol still remain unanswered. Therapeutic hypothermia treatment therefore must be tailored to the specific patient's needs. Hence, the exact level of target temperature, duration of cooling, rewarming, timing of the therapy and concomitant medication to facilitate therapeutic hypothermia will be important in the future. Additionally, the use of a post-resuscitation treatment bundle (specialised cardiac-arrest centres including intensive post-resuscitation care, appropriate haemodynamic and respiratory management, therapeutic hypothermia and percutaneous coronary intervention) could further improve treatment of cardiac arrest.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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