One drug, lidoflazine, which dilates coronary arteries, improves recovery if good circulation can be restored. Epinephrine also helps. Even though mild, it produces significantly improved recovery in animal experiments. Besides reducing the brain's need for oxygen, mild hypothermia also decreases inflammation, toxicity due to excitability of the effected neurons, lactic acidosis of brain tissue, and free radical reactions. Presently, Safar and colleagues are studying mild hypothermia plus sedation for use in disasters or hemorrhagic shock, a common cause of accidental death.
Patients tolerate up to two hours of mild hypothermia.
Safar also seeks ways to use current insights on resuscitation when patients cannot be brought immediately to a hospital. A kit for use in such cases would contain IV fluids, a cooling pack, a prepared drug cocktail, and means to open the chest. The drug cocktail would contain thiopental and lidocaine. Finally, Safar repeated that prevention of age-related diseases would do far more towards longevity than any methods for resuscitation. Resuscitation had most importance for what it tells about our respect for human life.