Can Hypothermia be Incorporated Into Primary Angioplasty for Heart Attack?

This clinical study will investigate the safety and feasibility of cooling heart attack (STEMI) patients with the LRS (Life Recovery Systems)ThermoSuit System, a cooling device which uses the principle of cold water immersion to rapidly reduce patient temperature. The study will enroll a total of up to 20 patients, and will be a cooperative effort between LRS and LSU Health Sciences Center - Shreveport. The study is being conducted under an IDE (Investigational Device Exemption) that was granted to LRS by FDA (G070141). The primary goal of this trial is to demonstrate the feasibility of cooling AMI patients pre-reperfusion with the ThermoSuit cooling device. The safety of this treatment will be determined by review of a composite of serious adverse events. Consciously sedated patients will be cooled after entry into the emergency room and prior to percutaneous coronary intervention in the catheterization laboratory. It is hypothesized that the ThermoSuit System will enable cooling of the patient to 34ºC after a treatment of 30 minutes or less. Previous research has suggested that cooling of ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients before coronary reperfusion could result in a significant reduction in myocardial infarct size. If successful, this study will lead to a pivotal clinical study to investigate the potential for the ThermoSuit cooling treatment to reduce myocardial infarct size. The ultimate goal of these studies is to determine the safety and effectiveness of the use of the ThermoSuit device for the treatment of AMI patients.