Patent ID: 7361186

Claim:
A method for rapid inducement of hypothermia in a human patient, the method comprising: cooling the human patient to lower a core temperature of the body of the human patient; the cooling comprising, transferring, during a time of two hours or less, a quantity of heat larger than 200 kilocalories from the body of the human patient at a heat transfer rate that is larger than 250 kilocalories per hour for a period of at least 20 minutes, the quantity of heat being transferred across exterior body surface of the human patient to a heat exchange device in heat transfer communication with the exterior body surface; administering a vasodilation drug to the human patient to dilate blood vessels in the human patient, at least a portion of the administering occurring between 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the period and the end of the period; and administering an anti-shivering drug to the human patient, at least a portion of the administering the anti-shivering drug occurring between 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the period and the end of the period.