Towards evidence based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 1: Efficacy of hypothermia for traumatic brain injury in children.

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether there is any evidence for induced hypothermia in paediatric brain injury. 80 papers were found using the reported search, of which 5 represent the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. The clinical bottom line is that there is no evidence to support the use of hypothermia in brain injured children, and it may be associated with increased mortality.