Der Anaesthesist
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Case Reports
[Exertion-related heat stroke. Lethal multiorgan failure from accidental hyperthermia in a 23 year old athlete].
We report the case of a 23-year-old rower who suffered from an exertional heatstroke while trying to lose 2 kg in weight by jogging before a competition. The development of this illness was favoured by clothes that were inappropriate for the environmental conditions and which the sportsman wore intentionally to enhance sweating. The maximum core temperature was over 43 degrees C. ⋯ In spite of maximum intensive care with an extensive substitution of blood products, continuous hemodiafiltration, and inhalative administration of nitrous oxide the young sportsman died 48 h after his admission to the intensive care unit. This tragic course demonstrates the danger of the widespread habit of losing weight by vigorously exercising with inappropriate clothes. In this article, potential risk factors, symptomatology, therapy, and methods of preventing an exertional heatstroke are shown and discussed.
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Anesthetic agents have direct and indirect effects on immunocompetent cells but the molecular mechanisms of direct interactions are largely unknown. Therefore, the effect of propofol and ketamine on TNF-alpha gene expression was studied in cultured blood from healthy volunteers. ⋯ These data suggest that propofol and ketamine have opposite effects on transcription of the TNF-alpha gene. While the effects of propofol were observed with concentrations corresponding to an induction bolus, the effects of ketamine were restricted to higher concentrations.