Rapid, selective and homogeneous brain cooling with transnasal flow of ambient air for pediatric resuscitation

Neurologic outcome from out-of-hospital pediatric cardiac arrest remains poor. Although therapeutic hypothermia has been attempted in this patient population, a beneficial effect has yet to be demonstrated, possibly because of the delay in achieving target temperature. To minimize this delay, we developed a simple technique of transnasal cooling. Air at ambient temperature is passed through standard nasal cannula with an open mouth to produce evaporative cooling of the nasal passages. We evaluated efficacy of brain cooling with different airflows in different size piglets. Brain temperature decreased by 3°C within 25 minutes with nasal airflow rates of 16, 32, and 16 L/min in 1.8-, 4-, and 15-kg piglets, respectively, whereas rectal temperature lagged brain temperature. No substantial spatial temperature gradients were seen along the neuroaxis, suggesting that heat transfer is via blood convection. The evaporative cooling did not reduce nasal turbinate blood flow or sagittal sinus oxygenation. The rapid and selective brain cooling indicates a high humidifying capacity of the nasal turbinates is present early in life. Because of its simplicity, portability, and low cost, transnasal cooling potentially could be deployed in the field for early initiation of brain cooling prior to maintenance with standard surface cooling after pediatric cardiac arrest.