00:00 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug to treat severe frostbite.
00:05 The drug reportedly opens up blood vessels and prevents blood clotting in frostbitten
00:09 patients.
00:11 After a successful small clinical trial, the drug has now been approved for use.
00:16 The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that 60 percent of the
00:20 patients who did not receive the new drug had injuries sufficiently severe to warrant
00:25 amputation versus zero percent of the patients who did receive the drug.
00:30 Science Alert notes that frostbite is evolution's response to prolonged or extreme cold, causing
00:35 blood vessels to constrict and blood flow to slow in the extremities.
00:40 This keeps blood flowing in the vital organs warm, increasing the chance of surviving in
00:45 the extreme cold.
00:46 The downside to frostbite is that it can result in permanent damage to the fingers, toes,
00:51 and parts of the face, sometimes requiring amputation.
Comments