In 2018 Dr. Sergei Shushunov received a patent US 10,016,573 for a new Targeted Temperature Management System based on a very simple idea. It is well known, that patients suffering from hypothermia can we re-warmed by using warm air during mechanical ventilation. All patients who suffer from cardiac arrest or severe stroke receive mechanical ventilation because their breathing is unreliable. The air coming from the ventilator usually goes through a warming chamber to prevent the development of hypothermia. If warm air ventilation can be used to increase the body temperature of patients suffering from hypothermia, cold air ventilation can be used to decrease body temperature. Dr. Shushunov proposed to use replace a warming air chamber with a cooling chamber and to ventilate patients with a hyper-cold air, or air at -30 C (-23 F). To make cooling even faster he proposed to administer hyper-cold air using a novel mode of ventilation, which he called “compensated hyperventilation” – a method of delivering hyper cold air at minute ventilations higher than required to maintain adequate removal of carbon dioxide with adding 4.6% carbon dioxide to inhaled air/oxygen mixture in order to maintain normal acid-base balance and to avoid development of respiratory alkalosis. He also proposed, that depending on the temperature changes of the patient the system would direct air from the ventilator either through the conventional heating or cooling chambers. This redirection of air would allow precise control of the subject’s temperature during maintenance and rewarming phases.
A body temperature management system comprising: an insulated cooling unit having an interior chamber that comprises a cooling medium and a cooling element that cools the cooling medium to a low temperature; tubing that includes an inlet and an outlet, a segment of the tubing between the inlet and the outlet passing through the cooling medium of the cooling unit; and ventilation means for delivering gas to a patient.
The system of claim 1, wherein the cooled air is supplied into the intubation tube.
The system of claim 1, wherein the cooling unit is a freezer wherein the cooling medium comprises one or more of calcium chloride (CaCI2) solution, a sodium chloride (NaCl) solution, a magnesium chloride (MgCl2) solution, and any alcohol solution.
The system of claim 1, wherein the cooling unit is a freezer operating based on thermoelectric principle utilizing Peltier effect to support the refrigeration cycle.
The system of claim 4, wherein the source of energy to power the thermoelectric cooling unit comprises any one or a combination of: autonomous power source, diesel generator, solar battery, fuel cell, wind generator, dynamo, truck engine, car engine, electrical accumulator, power grid, military equipment.
The system of claim 1, comprising ventilation means positioned downstream of the cooling unit.
The system of claim 1, wherein the cooling unit is integrated into the ventilation means.
The system of claim 1, wherein the ventilation means comprise a ventilator machine.
The system of claim 1, wherein the ventilation means comprise a manually operated ventilation device.
A body temperature management system, wherein the cooling unit comprises both a cooling chamber adapted to cool a breathable gas and a heating chamber adapted to heat a breathable gas, the said chambers being connected in parallel to the source of breathing gas and being operated by a control unit allowing and disallowing the cold and warm flows as a function of feedback sensor inputs.
The system of claim 10, wherein the said heating chamber provides heating power sufficient to re-warm a human or animal patient in the conditions comprising the conditions of a hospital, a residence, a farm, an open area, a remote region, a polar region, a mountainous region, inside a mean of transportation, in a battle zone.
The system of claim 10, further comprising electronically-controlled valves that are used to control the amounts of cooled gas and heated gas that are respectively delivered to a patient.
The system of claim 12, further comprising a micro-processor capable of distributing the flows of the cooled and warmed gas through the corresponding passages in a precise sequence following inhalations, such that the variable ratio of inhalations through the cold path to the inhalations through the warmed path is maintained.
The system of claims 1 or 10, wherein the cooling element cools the cooling medium to a temperature below 0º Celsius, comprising the ranges from 0º to -5º, from -5º to -10º, from -10º to -15º, from -15º to -20º, from -25º to -30º and from -30º to -35º.
A method for body temperature management comprising: cooling a breathable gas to a low temperature; and delivering the gas to a patient’s lungs to lower the patient’s body temperature.
The method for body temperature management, wherein cooling a breathable gas comprises cooling the gas to a temperature below 0º Celsius, comprising the ranges from 0º to -5º, from -5º to -10º, from -10º to -15º, from -15º to -20º, from -25º to -30º and from -30º to -35º.
The method of claim 16, wherein the cooling by gas inhalation is facilitated by the physiological state comprising the states of: general anesthesia, deep relaxation, loss of conscience, coma.
The method of claim 16, wherein the cooling by gas inhalation is facilitated by the action of anti-shivering agents.
The method of claim 16, wherein delivering the gas comprises delivering the gas with a ventilator machine.
The method of body temperature management, further comprising warming the breathable gas and delivering the warmed gas to the patient’s lungs to rewarm the patient after hypothermia has been induced.
The method of claim 20, further comprising warming the breathable gas and delivering the warmed gas to the patient’s lungs to rewarm the patient after accidental or undesired hypothermia has been induced.
A body temperature management method, comprising cooling and heating the breathing gas in the parallel paths based on the response of a control unit allowing and disallowing the cold and warm flows as a function of feedback sensor inputs.
The method of claim 22, further comprising distributing the flows of the cooled and warmed gas through the corresponding parallel passages of the temperature management device (TMD) in a precise sequence following inhalations, such that the variable ratio of inhalations through the cold path to the inhalations through the warmed path is maintained, the said ratio between cooled and heated inhalations being dynamic and determined by the individual’s current metabolic rate and core body temperature changes.
The method of the claim 23, wherein the ratio of the inhalations through the warm path and through the parallel cold path is controlled by a microprocessor also receiving inputs from the feedback temperature and carbon dioxide sensors.
The method of claim 23, wherein the pCO2 is assessed by the sensors and is automatically or manually compensated in proportion to the extent of hyperventilation to stay in the physiological limits of between approximately 35 torr and 45 torr, producing a regime of compensated hyperventilation.
The method of claim 25, wherein the pCO2 is assessed by the sensors and is automatically or manually compensated in proportion to the extent of hyperventilation to stay in the physiological limits of between approximately 35 torr and 45 torr, producing a regime of compensated hyperventilation matching the extent of hyperventilation in the given individual in the individual’s current state that would lead to the level of 30-35 residual pCO2 if left uncompensated.
The method of claim 25, wherein the pCO2 is assessed by the sensors and is automatically compensated in proportion to the extent of hyperventilation to stay in the physiological limits of between approximately 35 torr and 45 torr, producing a regime of compensated hyperventilation matching the extent of hyperventilation in the given individual in the individual’s current state that would lead to the level of 25-30 residual pCO2 if left uncompensated.
The method of claim 25, wherein the pCO2 is assessed by the sensors and is automatically compensated in proportion to the extent of hyperventilation to stay in the physiological limits of between approximately 35 torr and 45 torr, producing a regime of compensated hyperventilation matching the extent of hyperventilation in the given individual in the individual’s current state that would lead to the level of 15-25 residual pCO2 if left uncompensated.
The method of claim 20, wherein the method is adapted to utilize the energy of fuel cell and the method is intended for warming the breathing air supplied to the breather through the face mask, the method being specifically adapted to proceed in remote regions, forests, mountains, deserts, uninhabited regions, battlefields, such that more than 40% of enthalpy available in the organic fuel is delivered to the breather in the form of the heated breathing air.