Abstract 326: Total Liquid Ventilation Offers Ultrafast and Whole-Body Cooling in Large Animals

Introduction: Total liquid ventilation with perfluorocarbons (TLV) has been shown to cool down the entire body very rapidly (<10-15 min) in rabbits after cardiac arrest. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that TLV could also induce rapid and whole-body cooling in larger animals under normal conditions (beating hearts) or during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Methods: In a first set of experiments, anesthetized pigs of 20-30 kg were randomly maintained under conventional gas ventilation or submitted to TLV using a specific prototype for large animals. TLV was instituted using perfluoro-N-octane at 15°C (5 cycles/min; tidal volume = 15 ml/kg; end-expiratory volume = 15 ml/kg). In a second set of experiments, pigs were submitted untreated ventricular fibrillation during 15 min. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was initiated using an automated device (Thumper ®). One group was maintained under conventional CPR with the continuous compression ventilation mode (Control group). Another group was switched to TL...