[Epidural regional hypothermia for prevention of paraplegia in experimental aortic clamping]

In experiments on dogs the authors tried to elaborate methods of protection of the spinal cord from ischaemia during surgery of an aneurysm in the thoracolumbal portion of the aorta. They used the model described in the literature with double ligature of the aorta closely below the insertion of the left-sided subclavian artery and closely above the diaphragm for a period fo 40 minutes. In the control group of 8 dogs they observed severe neurological deficiency manifested by paraplegia in 7 animals. In the second group of 8 dogs the authors used local hypothermia of the spinal cord. Hypothermia was produced by epidural administration of 5 degrees C saline which they started to administer five minutes before clamping and continued throughout the period of ischaemia. The temperature of the spinal cord dropped to 26.8 degrees C. In this group none of the dogs developed neurological damage. The results were evaluated by recording spinal somatosensory potentials, by monitoring the neurological condition according to Tarlov and by histological examination of the spinal cord. In the conclusion they emphasize that this method can protect the spinal cord from 40-minute ischaemia.