M.Sc. Yannick Lutz

Alexander Seer

Overview
In western countries, stroke is the third-most widespread cause of death. 80% of all strokes are ischemic and caused by a cerebral thrombosis or an embolism. The mortality rate of ischemic strokes is about 25%, while 35–55% of affected patients experience permanent disability. Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) showed neuroprotective effect and can possibly decrease the stroke induced cerebral damage. Recently, an intracarotid cooling sheath was developed to induce local TH in the penumbra using the cooling effect of cranial blood flow via collaterals. Unfortunately, so far, the control and regulation of the temporal and spatial cerebral temperature course is connected to invasive temperature measurements. Computational modelling provides unique opportunities to predict the resulting temperature decrease of the brain tissue and could replace the invasive procedure.