INTRAVASCULAR METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ISOLATION AND SELECTIVE COOLING OF THE CEREBRAL VASCULATURE DURING SURGICAL PROCEDURES

摘要

Patients having diminished circulation in the cerebral vasculature as a result of stroke or from other causes such as cardiac arrest, shock or head trauma, or aneurysm surgery or aortic surgery, are treated by flowing an oxygenated medium through an arterial access site into the cerebral vasculature and collecting the medium through an access site in the venous site of the cerebral vasculature. Usually, the cold oxygenated medium will comprise autologous blood, and the blood will be recirculated for a time sufficient to permit treatment of the underlying cause of diminished circulation. In addition to oxygenation, the recirculating blood will also be cooled to hypothermically treat to preserve brain tissue. Isolation and cooling of cerebral vasculature in patients undergoing aortic as well as other procedures is achieved by internally occluding at least the right common carotid artery above the aortic arch, and perfusing blood into the arterial cerebral vasculature.