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Abstract #3683

Breath-holding cools the human brain

Jan Weis 1 , Sebastien Murat 2 , Francisco Ortiz-Nieto 1 , and Hkan Ahlstrm 1

1 Department of Radiology, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden, 2 The Dive Lab, Sydney, Australia

Temperature of the human brain is subject of change as a consequence of environmental conditions, pathological circumstances, drugs, etc. This study sought to demonstrate that human brain temperature can be down-regulated by breath-holding (apnea), which is a crucial component of neuroprotective reflexes known as the dive response. Brain temperatures of five volunteers were monitored by a phase-difference method. Apnea decreased brain temperature ca 1 C in ca 70-80 seconds. The outcome of this study opens the possibility of devising new therapies that offer more effective neuroprotection in critically-ill patients (e.g., stroke, cardiac arrest, brain injury).

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