Citation

Podsiadło P, Zender-Świercz E, Strapazzon G, Kosiński S, Telejko M, Darocha T, Brugger H. Int. J. Biometeorol. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, International Society of Biometeorology, Publisher Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00484-020-02008-6

PMID

32869111

Abstract

Mountain accident casualties are often exposed to cold and windy weather. This may induce post-traumatic hypothermia which increases mortality. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of warming systems to compensate for the victim's estimated heat loss in a simulated mountain rescue operation. We used thermal manikins and developed a thermodynamic model of a virtual patient. Manikins were placed on a mountain rescue stretcher and exposed to wind chill indices of 0 °C and - 20 °C in a climatic chamber. We calculated the heat balance for two simulated clinical scenarios with both a shivering and non-shivering victim and measured the heat gain from gel, electrical, and chemical warming systems for 3.5 h. The heat balance in the simulated shivering patient was positive. In the non-shivering patient, we found a negative heat balance for both simulated weather conditions (- 429.53 kJ at 0 °C and - 1469.78 kJ at - 20 °C). Each warming system delivered about 300 kJ. The efficacy of the gel and electrical systems was higher within the first hour than later (p < 0.001). We conclude that none of the tested warming systems is able to compensate for heat loss in a simulated model of a non-shivering patient whose physiological heat production is impaired during a prolonged mountain evacuation. Additional thermal insulation seems to be required in these settings.

Language: en

Keywords

Hypothermia; Cold exposure; Mountain rescue; Rewarming; Thermal manikin; Wind chill index