EuroHYP: Is cooling an effective therapy for ischemic stroke?
EuroHYP-1 (https://www.eurohyp1.eu/) is a randomized, phase III, international clinical trial that will test whether ‘therapeutic hypothermia” or body cooling can help improve recovery in 1500 adult patients with moderate to severe ischemic stroke.
Therapeutic hypothermia is the most promising new intervention for ischemic stroke in animal models: cooling to 34°C reduces the amount of brain damage by 45%.
Cooling patients to 35°C has been shown to be feasible and safe, but EuroHYP-1 tested the ability of cooling to improve recovery from stroke. Within 6 hours of symptom onset, patients enrolled in the trial had their core body temperature reduced to 34-35°C for 24 hours. Their functional outcome was assessed after 3 months. The study also examined how well patients tolerate the cooling treatment and whether it is a cost effective treatment for health services to provide.
If results in patients mimic those seen in animal models, this therapy has the potential to significantly improve the life of stroke patients by offering a 7% reduction in the number that suffer from substantial disability following an ischemic stroke.
SAFE was a partner in the EuroHYP-1 project and supported the development of patient materials for the trial. These materials include: the information sheet presented to patients at the time of enrolment; a survey to understand the patient experience of cooling; and a patient diary to provide useful advice and monitor patient recovery after treatment.
The project ran from 2012- 2018 and the final report can be found here
Click here to download latest EuroHYP-1 newsletter.
EuroHYP-1 received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme Grant agreement ID: 278709
