Health-care workers push for better access to frostbite treatment popularized in Yukon – CBC
Yukon surgeon says treatment protocol has helped reduce number of amputations
Nov 06, 2024
A new coalition of Canadian health-care workers is hoping to “revolutionize” frostbite care in Canada, in part by promoting a groundbreaking treatment protocol popularized years ago by several Yukoners.
Whitehorse General Hospital surgeon Alex Poole and pharmacist Josianne Gauthier — who are part of the new Canadian Frostbite Care Network — published a study in 2016 which described a treatment for severe frostbite using a drug called Iloprost.
Since then, the approach has been used on Himalayan climbers in Kathmandu and saved fingers and toes in Helsinki. But it’s still not widely used in Canada, where conventional frostbite treatment can require patients to wait months before eventually receiving amputations.
Iloprost was approved by the FDA for use in the U.S. earlier this year, but is still not commercially available in this country. It currently requires a special access request to Health Canada.
Dr. Catherine Patocka is an emergency room physician and department head for emergency medicine at the University of Calgary. She remembers reading the article by Poole and Gauthier back in 2016.
