Saving stroke victims from brain damage...in a high tech 'wine cooler' body suit

Stroke patients are being wrapped in a high-tech ‘wine cooler’ in an effort to protect them from devastating brain damage.

British neurologists are involved in a major international trial to prove that cooling the body after a stroke is ‘neuro-protective’, reducing the number of brain cells that die.

A stroke occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is cut off. It can be caused either by a blood clot, known as an ischemic stroke, or a burst blood vessel in or around the brain, which is called a haemorrhagic stroke.

A stroke can lead to brain injury, disability or even death. Many of those who suffer serious brain damage never fully recover.

In an attempt to limit the damage done, the new procedure sees a patient’s body temperature lowered rapidly using an ice-cold IV drip, after which a padded ‘body suit’ containing chilled liquid is worn to maintain the low temperature.

Currently, a patient admitted for an ischemic stroke will be given a ‘clot-busting’ drug treatment called thrombolysis, or other blood-thinners to dissolve the clot.

As part of the new trial, British patients in Edinburgh and London are being recruited to demonstrate that lowering the body temperature stops a chemical cascade of toxins that develop when the brain is damaged by a clot.

As part of the trial, the ‘wine cooler’ treatment has to be done a maximum of three hours after arriving at hospital, and involves lowering the body temperature to between 34C and 35C as well as administering clot-busting drugs.

As the ‘wine cooler’ suit alone does not lower the body temperature quickly enough, the first step is an ice-cold saline solution IV drip.

In order not to cause any additional damage, the body’s temperature is monitored as it cools to make sure it does not go too low.

After this, the body suit – a vest and thigh pads – is wrapped around the patient and filled with cold liquid via tubes attached to a machine.

The ‘wine cooler’ suit maintains the body at 34C to 35C for about six hours. 

Cardiologists are already using the same science to protect the brain after a heart attack, when low oxygen levels caused by reduced blood flow can result in brain damage.