Experimental extravascular surface-cooling of the brain stem, fourth ventricle, and high cervical spinal cord

✓ Fifteen dogs were subjected to suboccipital craniectomy and cervical laminectomy for the purpose of irrigating the spinal cord and floor of the fourth ventricle with iced saline solution. No significant respiratory or cardiovascular dysfunction was noted. It is believed that this technique may be of value in reversing traumatic edema in higher centers of the central nervous system, and that well-maintained levels of oxygen tension as measured peripherally are beneficial to any insult of the central nervous system.