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HOME > Acute Crit Care > Volume 26(2); 2011 > Article
Case Report Successful Treatment of Accidental Hypothermia with Injury: A Case Report
Kyu Hyouck Kyoung, Young Hwan Kim, Suk Kyung Hong

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2011.26.2.110
1Department of Surgery, Haeundae Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
2Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. skhong94@amc.seoul.kr
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Accidental hypothermia is an uncommon health issue that can cause fatal problems. Mortality related to hypothermia has been reported to be up to 50%. Prognosis of hypothermia depends on the grade of hypothermia, interval of re-warming from the accident and the re-warming rate. Hypothermic patients with injury show worse prognosis. A 66 year-old man with history of cerebrovascular accident was rescued in the mountains. His Glasgow coma scale (GCS) was 3, core temperature was 25.2degrees C and he had a right lateral malleolar fracture. The second patient was a 45 year-old man whose GCS was 8 and core temperature 17.2degrees C. Blood pressure was unmeasurable with only palpable pulse and showed Osborn J wave on electrocardiography for both patients. Active re-warming was performed with forced warm air, warm saline infusion and bladder irrigation. Patient core temperature raised by 1.5degrees C/hour and 3.3degrees C/hour, respectively. The two patients were discharged without any other sequelae and disability.


ACC : Acute and Critical Care