Traitement par hypothermie du traumatisme crânien grave de l'enfant : le pour et le contre

Experimental data suggest that moderate (32-33 °C) and short-term (less than 24 hours) hypothermia should be an efficient and useful treatment for severe traumatic brain injury. Unfortunately, data obtained via large randomized control trials does not support this claim. At present, there is no support for the use of moderate short-term hypothermia for the treatment of severe traumatic brain injury cases without intracranial hypertension. There are, however, some data suggesting that hypothermia may be beneficial if applied for a longer period (48-72 hours) and in cases where traumatic brain injury is complicated by intracranial hypertension. A large randomized control trial is currently underway to answer this question.