• Matthias Weuster, Philipp Mommsen, Roman Pfeifer, Juliane Mohr, Steffen Ruchholtz, Sascha Flohé, Matthias Fröhlich, Claudia Keibl, Andreas Seekamp, Martijn van Griensven, and Ingo Witte.
• Department of Trauma Surgery, University of Schleswig-Holstein, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
• Mediators Inflamm. 2015 Jan 1; 2015: 829195.

BackgroundThe 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.MethodsWe have previously established a porcine polytrauma model including blunt chest trauma, penetrating abdominal trauma, and hemorrhagic shock. Therapeutic hypothermia (34°C) was induced for 3 hours. We documented cardiovascular parameters and basic respiratory parameters. Pigs were euthanized after 15.5 hours.ResultsOur polytrauma porcine model displayed sufficient trauma impact. Resuscitation showed adequate restoration of hemodynamics. Induced hypothermia had neither harmful nor major positive effects on the animals' hemodynamics. Though heart rate significantly decreased and mixed venous oxygen saturation significantly increased during therapeutic hypothermia. Mean arterial blood pressure, central venous pressure, pulmonary arterial pressure, and wedge pressure showed no significant differences comparing normothermic trauma and hypothermic trauma pigs during hypothermia.ConclusionsInduced hypothermia after polytrauma is feasible. No major harmful effects on hemodynamics were observed. Therapeutic hypothermia revealed hints for tissue protective impact. But the chosen length for therapeutic hypothermia was too short. Nevertheless, therapeutic hypothermia might be a useful tool for intensive care after polytrauma. Future studies should extend therapeutic hypothermia.

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