Case Report
Year: 2018 | Month: April | Volume: 8 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 222-226
Do Not Terminate Before Heating
Muge Gulen1, Davut Kaplan2, Seyhmus Kaya3
1University of Health Sciences, Adana City Education and Training Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Adana Turkey
2Eskisehir Yunus Emre State Hospital, Emergency Medicine Service, Eskisehir, Turkey
3Eskisehir State Hospital, Emergency Medicine Service, Eskisehir, Turkey
Corresponding Author: Muge Gulen
ABSTRACT
Hypothermic patients’ resuscitation should be initiated where the incident has occurred and restoration of normal body temperature should be ascertained before the patient can be declared dead. In this paper we presented a case of 51 years old man who was referred to the emergency department on a snowy night with accidental hypothermia. His body temperature with a rectal probe was 24°C. Internal and external warming was continued and CPR was promptly initiated. At the 30th minute, the patient responded to resuscitation; hence, his rectal body temperature rose to 28°C. He was discharged without any neurologic sequela. In these hypothermic patients, resuscitation should be initiated where the incident has occurred and restoration of normal body temperature should be ascertained before the patient can be declared dead.
Key words: Hypothermia, body temperature, emergency department.