[The use of moderate hypothermia in neurosurgery]

Hypothermia is currently considered as the most effective neuroprotective method. In recent years hypothermia has been more and more applied in clinical conditions. Hypothermia has been used with promising results in severe head trauma where it can evidently decrease the intracranial pressure, improve cerebral perfusion pressure and by its direct neuroprotective effect it diminishes the secondary ischemic brain damage. Hypothermia has been widely used also during complicated neurosurgical operations when cerebral vessels are manipulated (operations of cerebral aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, scull base tumours). Hypothermia has been recently tested also in some types of stroke, mainly in subarachnoid haemorrhage and ischaemic stroke.