World journal of critical care medicine
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Used for over 3600 years, hypothermia, or targeted temperature management (TTM), remains an ill defined medical therapy. Currently, the strongest evidence for TTM in adults are for out-of-hospital ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest, intracerebral pressure control, and normothermia in the neurocritical care population. ⋯ Despite ample experimental data, clinical evidence for stroke, refractory status epilepticus, hepatic encephalopathy, and intensive care unit is only at the safety and proof-of-concept stage. This review explores the deleterious nature of fever, the theoretical role of TTM in the critically ill, and summarizes the clinical evidence for TTM in adults.