Endovascular System Rapidly Cools or Warms Patients

By using a unique integrated temperature sensor catheter, the closed-loop system adjusts whole body temperature--without fluid introduction or exchange--by circulating cool or warm saline. This allows for precise temperature control, achieving therapeutic hypothermia rapidly via maximum cooling. The system also allows for cooling of conscious patients, which helps to avoid the risks inherent with paralytic agents, such as masking possible seizures or inadequate levels of sedation.

The system includes a programmable console with an intuitive touch screen interface. It can be used with both a standard catheter and the proprietary Philips Accutrol Catheter, a TMT catheter with an integrated temperature sensor. The average cooling rates for the RTx are four to five degrees Centigrade per hour, while the average warming rates are two to three degrees per hour. In addition to the InnerCool RTx Endovascular System, the InnerCool STx Surface Pad System for cooling and warming is also available, which provides an additional or alternative cost-effective and easy-to-use solution for noninvasive TMT. The InnerCool RTx and the InnerCool STx systems are products of Philips Healthcare (Philips; Best, The Netherlands).

"The Philips InnerCool RTx Endovascular System brings significant advancements in temperature modulation therapy and makes this technology even easier to use,” said Mike Miller, senior vice president and general manager of cardiac care at Philips Healthcare. "Because the InnerCool RTx has the fastest cooling and warming rates in the industry, it will be able to provide high performance in multiple clinical applications and settings.”

The practice of TMT to improve patient outcomes has been used in limited settings, such as during neurosurgery and cardiac surgery, as early as the 1950s, when only rudimentary surface cooling options, such as ice packs or blankets, were available to support TMT protocols. Advances in surface cooling technologies, specifically around pad design, have improved surface contact and the critical heat exchange process, as well as made these technologies easier to use. Today, TMT more broadly encompasses inducing, maintaining, and reversing hypothermia, as well as maintaining normal body temperature (normothermia).

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