There have been many years of animal research at the Safar Center on what was then called Suspended Animation (now called Emergency Preservation and Resuscitation [EPR]) for hypothermic preservation during exsanguinating, traumatic hemorrhage leading to cardiac arrest. EPR may allow surgical repair of the bleeding source during pulselessness followed by delayed resuscitation using cardiopulmonary bypass for reperfusion and rewarming. Laboratory studies have demonstrated preserved brain function after even 2-3 hours of circulatory arrest with EPR. Drs. Samuel Tisherman (PI) and Patrick Kochanek (Co-I) et al. are now ready for clinical trial of this technique in trauma victims who are exsanguinating to cardiac arrest in, or shortly before arrival in, the emergency department of participating trauma centers. The title of this study is "Emergency Preservation and Resuscitation for Cardiac Arrest from Trauma (EPR-CAT)." For three years through October 2010, $813,400 has been made available from the Department of Defense.

This is fascinating, futuristic research that may open totally new avenues in the treatment of trauma patients who become pulseless and perhaps other, currently unsalvageable conditions. Currently, these trauma victims have almost no chance of survival. The hope is that EPR could return some of these patients to a normal life with a fully functioning brain. This grant represents the clinical study that resulted from work by the late Dr. Peter Safar, Drs. Tisherman and Kochanek, and their team at the Safar Center including a series of talented fellows at the Safar Center (Drs.Wilhelm Berhinger, Ala Nozari, Stephan Prueckner, Rainer Kentner, Xianren Wu, and Tomas Drabek).