Trial of Therapeutic Hypothermia in Patients With ARDS

Subjects will be cooled using either cooling blankets or gel-pad systems to maintain core temperature 34-35°C.

Subjects in the TH + NMB arm will be deeply sedated using agents at the discretion of the primary ICU team, then start continuous iv infusion of either cisatracurium, atracurium, or vecuronium titrated to 2 twitches on train of four monitoring and further titrated to ablate visible shivering.

Subjects who are hypothermic (≤36°C) during CRRT will receive surface warming to restore core temperature to 37°C. Patients with core temperature \>38°C will receive 650 mg acetaminophen and, if temperature remains \>38°C, surface cooling will be initiated to return core temperature to 37-38°C.