Some cardiac arrest patients at the Foothills Hospital are being treated by inducing hypothermia.

Last summer, Bud Lloyd had a massive heart attack and his brain was deprived of oxygen.

As part of his treatment, he was given hypothermic therapy to help prevent permanent brain damage.

During the therapy, patients are put into a medically induced coma where they remain for the 24 to 48 hour treatment.

The treatment reduces the patient's body temperature to 33 degrees, from 37 degrees. "What that allows the body to do is slow down the metabolism and hasten recovery of their brain function," says Dr. Todd Anderson, a cardiologist at Foothills Hospital.

The core of the body is cooled using cold water pushed through a catheter and inserted into an artery. The machine which performs the technique has been used at the hospital for less than a year.

Cooling the body using the machine, as opposed to using cooling blankets and bags of ice, takes a shorter amount of time and is more accurate.