Abstract
The concept of altering the body temperature to achieve a therapeutic result in an injured brain is not new. Much has been written, both in the experimental and clinical literature, on therapeutic hypo- and hyperthermia. The protective effect of profound hypothermia (30°C or less) has been well established during cardiac and intracranial surgical procedures necessitating interruption of blood flow to the brain. Hypothermia has also been and continues to be used in the head-injured patient for the control of increased intracranial pressure that is refractory to hyperventilation, ventricular drainage, osmotherapy, and barbiturates. Conversely, the adjunctive chemotherapeutic effect of selective brain tumor hyperthermia remains under intense investigation.