[JshWright]

Packing with ice packs is a standard component of TTM, generally in conjunction with other therapies (chilled IV fluids, etc). It's also the easiest step to take in a prehospital setting, which is why we do (this is a thing I've done with maybe a dozen patients over the past few years). I'm not just making this stuff up, it's based on actual treatment protocols and algorithms.

We're talking about a naked, sedated patient (so they're already losing a lot of heat due to simple convection, and there's no heat being generated by skeletal muscle movements). The body's metabolism has slowed significantly, and it's producing anywhere near the normal level of "baseline" heat.

[tapland]

Do you have any links to data showing effects on brain temperature from that treatment?

Afaik interest has been low in carrying around enough ice pack capacity to make this viable, and with lacking data for it even working, whereas head-cooling packs with circulating liquid through a cooler takes little space, cools way more efficiently and required no other maintenance after insertion into the patient in the ambulance (and is moved with the patient while continously working).

[JshWright]

Overcooling is more of a risk with I've packs than not cooling enough. It's much less of a concern in a prehospital setting though, since we're not with the patient that long. It's more of an issue in the ICU.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17114983