Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett's remarkable progress after a recent spinal injury has ignited hopes that one component of his treatment -- therapeutic hypothermia -- could represent a breakthrough for other victims of spinal cord injuries.
But while promising, rapidly cooling the body following catastrophic spine injury may not become standard practice. The treatment has yet to be proven effective in clinical trials, and it appears to increase the risk of infection and cardiac arrhythmias.
In fact, many physicians believe that it was the quick action of the response team, rather than the cooling, that made the difference in Everett's case.
The initial word on Everett -- who crumpled to the ground after making a seemingly routine tackle in the Bills' season opener two weeks ago against the Denver Broncos -- was grim.
Tests would reveal a catastrophic, and potentially life-threatening, fracture and dislocation of his spine at the third and fourth cervical vertebrae, known as C3 and C4. The third cervical vertebra had gotten shoved over the front of the fourth cervical vertebra -- like boxcars buckled up on a track -- and locked into place, causing a serious compression on the spinal cord. The higher up the injury, the greater the loss of movement on the body, says Dr. Mark Spoonamore, director of USC's Center for Spinal Surgery.
The vertebrae are numbered sequentially, from C1 at the top to C7 at the bottom. "Christopher Reeve was a C2, and you saw what happened to him," Spoonamore says. "At C3 to C4, you still are looking at possible quadriplegia," as well as paralysis of the diaphragm, which would mean being dependent on a ventilator to breathe.
But the Bills' medical team worked fast. Within 15 minutes of the injury, Everett was in an ambulance, where Bills orthopedic surgeon Dr. Andrew Cappuccino administered steroid methylprednisolone and cold saline, intravenously, to reduce inflammation and swelling in the injured area and to induce moderate hypothermia, lowering his temperature by 4 to 5 degrees. Within six hours of the injury, Everett was in surgery.
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The surgical process
The four-hour operation that Cappuccino and Dr. Kevin Gibbons, a neurosurgeon, performed on Everett at Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital, in Buffalo, is fairly standard for Everett's type of injury.
