• Ortrud Vargas Hein, Andreas Triltsch, Christoph von Buch, Wolfgang J Kox, and Claudia Spies.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité, Campus Mitte, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany. ortrud.vargas@charite.de
• Crit Care. 2004 Oct 1;8(5):R353-7.

IntroductionWe report a case of twin toddlers who both suffered near drowning but with different post-trauma treatment and course, and different neurological outcomes.Methods And ResultsTwo twin toddlers (a boy and girl, aged 2 years and 3 months) suffered hypothermic near drowning with protracted cardiac arrest and aspiration. The girl was treated with mild hypothermia for 72 hours and developed acute respiratory dysfunction syndrome and sepsis. She recovered without neurological deficit. The boy's treatment was conducted under normothermia without further complications. He developed an apallic syndrome.ConclusionAlthough the twin toddlers experienced the same near drowning accident together, the outcomes with respect to neurological status and postinjury complications were completely different. One of the factors that possibly influenced the different postinjury course might have been prolonged mild hypothermia.

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