title: Rewarming a patient with accidental hypothermia and cardiac arrest using thoracic lavage.
abstract: The optimal treatment for severe accidental hypothermia is cardiopulmonary bypass because this offers the most rapid rate of rewarming. However, cardiopulmonary bypass therapy is not available in every hospital. In these circumstances, rewarming has to be achieved with other methods. We present a patient who was successfully rewarmed with thoracic lavage after he had been found with a core temperature of 21°C and asystole.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, North Karelia Central Hospital, Joensuu, Finland.
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Turtiainen
authors.affiliation: Heart Center, Kuopio University Hospital and University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: jari.halonen@kuh.f.
authors.forename: Jari
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Halonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, North Karelia Central Hospital, Joensuu, Finland.
authors.forename: Sakari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Syväoja
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, North Karelia Central Hospital, Joensuu, Finland.
authors.forename: Tapio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hakala
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017694:Rewarming / Q000379:methods*; D007507:Therapeutic Irrigation; D013908:Thoracotomy