Command hypothermia is an advanced treatment technique that reduces mortality and complications in patients with cardiorespiratory arrest and other diseases. The mechanism of hypothermia helps the brain reduce swelling, inflammation, improve blood flow and oxygen supply, so the brain has a better chance of recovery.

Cardiovascular hypothermia is a neuroprotective strategy that has shown high efficacy in clinical practice, capable of affecting more than 20 mechanisms behind ischemia and reperfusion to help minimize brain damage after cardiac arrest, reduce cerebral edema, and increase patient survival in emergency cardiovascular resuscitation.

Therapeutic hypothermia was first scientifically reported by Fay in 1940 for the treatment of traumatic brain injury. Most initial hypothermia was maintained at mild to moderate temperatures, primarily for cardiac surgery and cerebral aneurysms. The first use of deep hypothermia (<30 °C) in traumatic brain injury was described in 1964.