Induced Hypothermia in a Penetrating Trauma Patient with Cardiac Arrest from Exsanguination: The First Case Report

The authors report the use of induced hypothermia in a stab wound patient with left common femoral artery injury who had cardiac arrest from exsanguination immediately after arriving at a private hospital. The patient was transferred to the authors' institution (a university hospital) after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation, for vascular repair. The patient remained comatose five hours after the vascular repair. The induced hypothermia (target body temperature of 33°C) was initiated 10 hours post arrest after the bleeding control and physiologic derangement restoration had been achieved. The patient recovered uneventfully with good neurological outcome.