[Implementation of therapeutic hypothermia into clinical practice]

Implementation of mild therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest into clinical practice is a continuing process. Although ILCOR recommendation was given in 2003, only 24% of the German hospitals reported the use of hypothermia in this setting in 2005. Growing evidence and most importantly the implementation of hypothermia into the guidelines led to a significant increase of acceptance of this therapeutic option leading to a user rate of 69% in 2009. Encouraged by the new guidelines from 2010 86% of German hospitals finally reported to use hypothermia after cardiac arrest routinely in 2012, a decade after publication of the mile stone studies. The phenomenon of a delayed implementation of hypothermia into clinical practice can be seen throughout the world as many surveys from different countries at different time points have shown. When hypothermia is used, hospitals go with the guidelines quite strictly with respect to indication, duration of treatment and target temperature. This strengthens the importance of guidelines in the process to implement new therapeutic options. However, although a recent study still promotes a strict target temperature management it questions the need for a markedly reduced target temperature of 33°C. It remains to be elucidated how this study will affect the daily routine in the hospitals and most interestingly how this study will change the coming guidelines in 2015.