Therapeutic Hypothermia in France Figure 1. Practice of hypothermia duration. Figure sectors in light blue to dark blue are in the recommended target. Figure sectors in light orange to orange are outside the recommended target. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045284.g001 complications. Only one study addressed this question comparing the effects of 32uC, 33uC and 34uC as target temperature after cardiac arrest [18]. Unfortunately, this work showed no difference between the different groups, probably due to a lack of power. Interestingly, only few ICUs use a range of temperature whereas most of them prefer to set a precise target in this range. External cooling is the most common method to induce therapeutic hypothermia. This is in agreement with previous reports [10,11,14]. However, internal cooling is increasingly performed. Compared to conventional external cooling, intravas- cular methods provides a target temperature faster, a more stable hypothermia and a better control of rewarming [19,20]. This difference is no longer present between modern surface cooling devices and core devices [21]. The type of cooling method has no influence on mortality as confirmed by the large prospective study ICEREA [22]. Our work reports the sedation practice during therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest in France. Midazolam is the most common sedative drug in agreement with a previous report of worldwide practice [23]. In the United-Kingdom, propofol and Figure 2. Practice of hypothermia target temperature. Figure sectors in light blue to dark blue are in the recommended target. Figure sectors in light orange to orange are outside the recommended target. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045284.g002 PLOS ONE | www.plosone.org 3 September 2012 | Volume 7 | Issue 9 | e45284