Aviat Space Envir Md
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Aviat Space Envir Md · Apr 2006
Controlled Clinical TrialCranial-neck and inhalation rewarming failed to improve recovery from mild hypothermia.
Rewarming from hypothermia in a field setting is a challenge due to the typical lack of significant power or heat source, making the targeted application of available heat critical. The highly vascular area of the head and neck may allow heat to be rapidly transferred to the core via blood circulation. At the same time, the warming of only a small skin surface may minimize the rapid rise in skin temperature proposed to attenuate shivering and endogenous heat production. Therefore, we investigated the efficacy of targeting the head and neck for rewarming from mild hypothermia. ⋯ In summary, neither cranial-neck nor cranial-neck and inhalation rewarming combined have an advantage in reducing the magnitude and duration of after-drop or increasing the rewarming rate over passive rewarming.