The treatment is called therapeutic hypothermia and at its core is the simplest of technologies: ice.

WSJ: How Therapeutic Hypothermia Saves Lives of Cardiac Arrest Patients

Putting a price tag on lifesaving medical treatments makes people uneasy, but there's also strong medical evidence to support therapeutic hypothermia.

CNN: Cooling is catching on for cardiac arrest patients

The findings prompted the American Heart Association to include therapeutic hypothermia in 2005 guidelines for treating cardiac-arrest patients outside of a hospital.

WSJ: How Therapeutic Hypothermia Saves Lives of Cardiac Arrest Patients

"We've had patients who have been stone-cold out for least 20 minutes we know that for sure and they've come back normal or nearly normal, " says Michael Mooney, a cardiologist who heads the therapeutic hypothermia program at Minneapolis Heart Institute.

WSJ: How Therapeutic Hypothermia Saves Lives of Cardiac Arrest Patients