(HealthNewsDigest.com) - A limited time window to administer therapy for ischemic stroke means every second counts. Now doctors may be able to slow down the hands of time in this critical time frame by using hypothermia - cooling the body to halt reperfusion injury of brain tissue.

This year close to 800,000 Americans will experience ischemic stroke, which occurs when a brain artery is blocked. It's the fourth leading cause of death and the first leading cause of disability in the U.S. because brain tissue not only dies when blood flow is interrupted, it's also injured immediately after the brain artery is re-opened - what is called "reperfusion" injury.

Neurology and neurosurgery researchers from Emory University School of Medicine presented results of the Endovascular Reperfusion and Cooling in Cerebral Acute Ischemia (ReCCLAIM I) study at the American Heart Association-American Stroke Association's 2013 International Stroke Conference in Hawaii earlier this month.

Full Story
http://news.emory.edu/stories/2013/02/hypothermia_for_stroke/

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The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center (http://www.whsc.emory.edu/home/about) of Emory University is an academic health science and service center focused on missions of teaching, research, health care and public service.
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