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Article: CITY PIONEERS RADICAL LIVER FAILURE CARE
- Article from:
- Evening News - Scotland
- Article date:
- October 29, 1999
CopyrightCopyright 1999 Evening News - Scotland. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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DOCTORS are pioneering a treatment that saves the lives of
patients with liver failure by deliberately giving them hypothermia.
Medics at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary are the first in the UK, and
possibly the world, to use the technique on patients with acute
liver failure.
Many patients die before doctors can give them a life-saving
transplant because liver failure can cause cerebral oedema, a
dangerous swelling on the brain.
Now doctors at the Infirmary's Scottish Liver Transplant Unit
have discovered that giving patients moderate hypothermia can
control the swelling.
Special cooling blankets are used to lower the body temperature
by about four degrees Celsius.
Medics believe it works by ...