CLEVELAND, Ohio- (July 7, 2016) Cryothermic Systems, Inc., a medical device company developing novel products to quickly initiate cooling and improve neurological function of the brain due to lack of oxygen, today announced the results of a pilot study that demonstrated pre-hospital cooling of the neck with the Cryothermic Cooling Pack was equally effective to using chilled saline, the previous gold standard.

In this study conducted by Roman Skulec, MD, Emergency Medical Services Director of the Central Region, Czech Republic, ten consecutive successfully resuscitated Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) patients were cooled using the Excel Cryo Cooling System and compared to cooling with saline. The results showed that the Cryothermic Cooling Pack induced comparable prehospital cooling as intravenous administration of 4°C cold saline (1.5±0.4 vs. 1.4±0.8, p=0.7821).  Moreover, the study noted that there was no ocurrence of re-arrest, no other arrhythmias, and no local complications were observed in the group using the Cryothermic Cooling Pack.  The study concluded that the “initial experience using the Excel Cryo Cooling Device in successfully resuscitated OHCA patients showed satisfactory and safe prehospital cooling efficiency assessed by prehospital decline of tympanic temperature.

Dr. Skulec stated that “we have been looking for an alternative method to cool our OHCA patients other than the use of intravenous injection of cold saline.  We are very pleased with the results of our trial conducted with the Cryothermic Cooling Pack, and I believe we have found the alternative we were looking for.  Based upon the results of our tests, I believe that the Cryothermic Cooling Pack is a simple, safe, non-invasive method to cool our OHCA patients.  We look forward to expanding our use of the Cryothermic Cooling Pack.”

Moreover, the European ILCOR Advisory Statement of 2015 recently updated their guidelines to state that “[t]he Task Force recommends against prehospital cooling with rapid infusion of large volumes of cold intravenous fluid.”

Mike Bunker, CEO of Cryothermic Systems, stated, “Given the combination of the new ILCOR and AHA guidelines, it is important for first responders and hospitals to find a safe solution to cooling with saline. We believe the Cryothermic Cooling Pack is the noninvasive, simple and cost-effective alternative to chilled saline.”

The study was accepted as an abstract at the European Resuscitation Council (ERC), which took place in Prague, Czech Republic, from October 28-30, 2015.  At the ERC, Dr. Skulec, presented his findings as a poster.  Click here to link to that Poster.