Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 12, 2026
Esophageal Heat Transfer for Patient Temperature Control and Targeted Temperature Management
Published on: November 21, 2017
Anesthesia for deep hypothermic circulatory arrest in adults: experience with the first 50 patients
J J Appoo1, F Ralley, G Baslaim
1Division of Anaesthesiology, Royal Victoria Hospital, McGill University Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Objective:
To evaluate the efficacy of a simple method of central nervous system (CNS) protection in patients undergoing deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) lasting less than 30 minutes, for a variety of complex cardiovascular procedures.
Design:
A retrospective case review.
Setting:
A university teaching hospital.
Participants:
Fifty consecutive patients (25 women, 25 men) undergoing elective or emergency cardiovascular operations requiring DHCA between August 1991 and December 1996.
Interventions:
Patients underwent DHCA for a variety of surgical procedures. Neurologic protection was with thiopental, ice packs to the head, and systemic core hypothermia to a nasopharyngeal temperature (NPT) of 18 degrees to 20 degrees C.
Measurements And Main Results:
The mean duration of circulatory arrest was 18 +/- 10 minutes (range, 5 to 42 minutes). The mean NPT at time of arrest was 18.7 degrees +/- 1.7 degrees C. Three patients (6%) had gross CNS morbidity, one of whom died. The circulatory arrest times for these three patients were 8, 39, and 40 minutes. Perioperative mortality was 8% (n = 4). The circulatory arrest times for the patients who died were 12, 13, 23, and 39 minutes.
Conclusion:
The anesthetic management of DHCA described is simple, effective, and safe, and can be performed in any institution that performs cardiac surgery.
