摘要 |
A kit for establishing and maintaining hypothermia in a patient (12) for neurotherapeutic purposes includes a high cooling capacity catheter (18) that is advanced into the patient's central venous system to quickly cool the patient to, e.g., 32 DEG C (40) or so. Once hypothermia has been established, the high capacity catheter is removed and replaced with a lower cooling capacity catheter (28) which maintains a desired reduced temperature. The lower capacity catheter advantageously can be configured as a central venous catheter (34) for permitting the catheter to be used for multiple functions. Alternatively, the high cooling capacity catheter can be used to attenuate a fever and lower the patient's body temperature to normal, with the lower capacity catheter being used to maintain normal body temperature.
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