Systemic Hypothermia as Treatment for an Acute Cervical Spinal Cord Injury in a Professional Football Player: 9-Year Follow-Up

The following report provides clinical follow-up on a National Football League player who sustained a complete cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) while tackling an opposing player in 2007. He received prompt medical and surgical care based on then-current recommendations, but was also treated with systemic hypothermia soon after his injury, which was controversial at the time. Since then, smaller randomized human studies have described the tolerable safety profile, efficacy, and potential benefits of this intervention in acute SCI in humans. Now, modest systemic hypothermia can be one of many tools considered in the treatment of acute SCI. Before it can become the standard of care, however, additional larger prospective randomized studies need to be completed. The patient described in this article had long-term excellent clinical results, with residual deficits of occasional tingling in fingertips and toe tips, although the patient continues to slowly improve.