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Journal of Accident & Emergency Medicine 2000;17:422-424; doi:10.1136/emj.17.6.422
© 2000 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and the College of Emergency Medicine.
J Accid Emerg Med 2000; 17:422-424
© 2000 the Emergency Medicine Journal

Case report

Extracorporeal rewarming in a severely hypothermic patient using venovenous haemofiltration in the accident and emergency department

K Spooner and A Hassani

Anaesthetic Department, Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 7ET, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to: Dr Hassani, Consultant Anaesthetist

Abstract

Severe hypothermia is a medical emergency and requires active and occasionally rapid core rewarming to prevent cardiac arrhythmias and death. In the accident and emergency department rewarming is often limited to warmed intravenous fluids, heated blankets, gastric and bladder lavage. Extracorporeal methods, which rewarm core blood directly, for example haemodialysis and cardiopulmonary bypass, require expertise and equipment not always found in a district general hospital. Venovenous haemofiltration is now commonly found in district general hospitals around the country and can be used safely for core rewarming. A case is reported of a severely hypothermic elderly patient successfully rewarmed using venovenous haemofiltration, in an accident and emergency department, when other conventional methods had failed.

Keywords: hypothermia; venovenous haemofiltration


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Alfonzo, A., Lomas, A., Drummond, I., McGugan, E. (2009). Survival after 5-h resuscitation attempt for hypothermic cardiac arrest using CVVH for extracorporeal rewarming. Nephrol Dial Transplant 24: 1054-1056 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

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