OBJECTIVE To review human thermoregulation and the pathophysiology and management of induced and accidental hypothermia. DATA SOURCES A review of studies reported over ten years from 1990 to 2000 and identified through a MEDLINE search of the English-language literature on thermoregulation and induced and accidental hypothermia. SUMMARY OF REVIEW Hypothermia is defined as a core temperature...

The complications of therapeutic hypothermia sometimes undermine its clinical effects. In this study we investigated the efficacy and safety of therapeutic hypothermia based on analysis of 20 severe head injury cases from 6 institutions treated with therapeutic hypothermia in 1999. The twenty patients with severe head injury were enrolled prospectively based on the following indications; Glasgo...

BACKGROUND Neonatal hypothermia remains a common problem and is related to elevated morbidities and mortality. However, the long-term neurodevelopmental effects of admission hypothermia are still unknown. This study attempted to determine the short-term and long-term consequences of admission hypothermia in VLBW preterm infants. STUDY DESIGN This retrospective study measured the incidence and...

BACKGROUND Transcranial Doppler (TCD) is widely used to detect and follow up cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Therapeutic hypothermia might influence blood flow velocities assessed by TCD. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of hypothermia on Doppler blood flow velocity after SAH. METHODS In 20 patients treated with hypothermia (33°) due to refractory intrac...

Recent experimental research has either focused on the role of accidental hypothermia as part of the lethal triad after trauma or tried to elucidate the effects of therapeutically induced hypothermia on the posttraumatic course. Induced hypothermia seems to reduce the mortality in experimental models of trauma-haemorrhage. As potential mechanisms, a decrease of cellular metabolism, beneficial e...

CONTEXT The aim of this review study was to evaluate therapeutic mild hypothermia, its complications and various methods for induced mild hypothermia in patients following resuscitation after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION Studies conducted on post-cardiac arrest cares, history of induced hypothermia, and therapeutic hypothermia for patients with cardiac arrest were incl...

BACKGROUND Mild hypothermia improves outcome when induced after cardiac arrest in humans. Recent studies in both dogs and mice suggest that induction of mild hypothermia during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) greatly enhances its efficacy. In this study, we evaluate the time window for the beneficial effect of intra-arrest cooling in the setting of prolonged CPR in a clinically relevant lar...

Hypothermia to mitigate ischemic brain tissue damage has a history of about six decades. Both in clinical and experimental studies of hypothermia, two principal arbitrary patterns of core temperature lowering have been defined: mild (32-35 degrees C) and moderate hypothermia (30-33 degrees C). The neuroprotective effectiveness of postischemic hypothermia is typically viewed with skepticism beca...

BACKGROUND The deterioration of hemodynamics instantly endangers the patients' life after polytrauma. As accidental hypothermia frequently occurs in polytrauma, therapeutic hypothermia still displays an ambivalent role as the impact on the cardiopulmonary function is not yet fully understood. METHODS We have previously established a porcine polytrauma model including blunt chest trauma, penet...

OBJECTIVE Hypothermia is used in various clinical settings to inhibit ischemia-related organ damage. However, prothrombotic effects have been described as potential side effects. This study aimed to elucidate the mechanism of hypothermia-induced platelet activation and subsequent prothrombotic events and to develop preventative pharmacological strategies applicable during clinically used hypoth...