The podcast entitled “Why do I use Targeted Temperature Management” with Dr. Brian O’Neil, Processor and Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University School of Medicine and Dr. Bernd Böttiger, Professor and Head, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne covered several topics on the practical use of TTM in daily practice. Current TTM guidelines in the US and in Germany were cited as well as challenges including a restrictive therapeutic window for therapeutic hypothermia. The issue of patient heterogeneity in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients and the possible benefits for new biomarkers to identify patients that would benefit from this neuroprotective treatment were summarized. The effective management of TTM including the importance of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation rates, cooling methods and the need for early cooling at lower levels (33oC) were also highlighted during this interesting discussion.
