Mathematical, numerical and in-vitro investigation of cooling performance of an intra-carotid catheter for selective brain hypothermia

Abstract

Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) has become an established neuroprotective therapy for patients after cardiac arrest [1, 2]. Selective brain cooling represents a promising way to shorten the time to reach the target brain temperature and additionally spare other organs from damage caused by temperature decrease. We present the investigation of the cooling performance of a single-balloon catheter dimensioned for the placement within the common carotid artery (CCA) by means of three different approaches: mathematical, numerical and in-vitro testing.

Keywords

• therapeutic hypothermia
• cooling catheter
• ischaemic stroke
• neuroprotection