Hypothermia and cerebral metabolism

The relationship between O₂ consumption and body temperature in experimental studies involving dogs (smaller white circles) compared with the relation between cerebral metabolic O₂ consumption and body temperature based on the Q₁₀ ratio determined in adult humans (larger gray circles). Assuming the brain can tolerate a period of five minutes of ischemia at 37°C and that the ischemic tolerance of neurons is directly proportional to O₂ consumption, it is predicted that the brain can tolerate a period of 17 to 24 minutes of circulatory arrest under conditions of deliberate hypothermia at 20°C.