NEWARK — When a near-drowning victim arrives at Children’s Hospital, doctors’ main priority is to protect the child’s brain, said Dr. Nadeem Khan, chief of the Division of Critical Care Medicine at Children’s and medical director of the pediatric intensive care unit.
“In a near-drowning episode, the most important organ is the brain, because it has a very short period where it can sustain itself without damage,” Khan said.
When a person is drowning, the body begins shutting down blood flow to the unnecessary areas — such as the skin and kidneys — to try to keep oxygen going to the brain. Once the brain is damaged, it doesn’t regenerate, Khan said.
Every near-drowning is different, and health consequences vary depending on the state of the patient when they are rescued. If they receive CPR immediately after being pulled from the water, their chances of survival are better, he said.
“It’s hard to predict how a patient will end up. There are no hard and fast rules,” Khan said.
With every drowning patient who comes into Children’s, doctors work to stabilize his or her breathing and blood pressure.
Some children are placed in a medically induced coma, to rest their bodies and brains, Khan said. Once they are stable, some children might have to go through rehabilitation to recover completely, he said.
Children’s is part of a National Institutes of Health-sponsored study looking at the effect body temperature has on the recovery of children in near-drowning accidents.
Some in the medical community think lowering patients’ body temperatures can help them recover, Khan said.
If parents give permission for their children to be in the study, they randomly are assigned to a group. Patients in one group have their body temperature maintained at a normal temperature. Others have their body temperature lowered and kept there for more than 24 hours, Khan said.
The study results will give doctors better insight on how to help children recover, Khan said.
No comments:
Post a Comment