DOCTORS seeking to cut the risk of heart attacks in patients after
surgery by cooling them may unwittingly be increasing their chances of
death.
Heart attack is the leading cause of death after surgery, and doctors often
cool patients in the belief that this reduces the risk.
But researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, report in
this week鈥檚 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association
that keeping patients warm after their operations cuts the risk of a 鈥渃ardiac
event鈥� by 55 per cent.
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