In 2002, the critical care world was rocked by a pair of studies released simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine, which found that therapeutic hypothermia improved neurological outcomes for unconscious survivors of cardiac arrest.

In the almost 20 years that have followed, several trials have produced conflicting results, culminating in the TTM-2 trial released in 2021, which seems to have finally put the issue to rest – cooling to 33 degrees Celsius is no better for patients than 37.5.

Niklas Nielsen is Prof Anaes / CC at Lund University in Sweden, and the principle investigator of the TTM-2 trial, and he joins me on the podcast to discuss what’s next for hypothermia research.