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. 1984 Oct 6;289(6449):874–877. doi: 10.1136/bmj.289.6449.874

Cardiac arrhythmias during rewarming of patients with accidental hypothermia.

A C Rankin, A P Rae
PMCID: PMC1443454  PMID: 6434119

Abstract

Accidental hypothermia has a high mortality and is associated with cardiac arrhythmias. To determine the incidence of arrhythmias and their importance 22 patients with accidental hypothermia (core temperature less than 35 degrees C) were studied by 12 lead electrocardiography and continuous recording of cardiac rhythm. Although 14 of the patients died (64%), only six died while hypothermic. Prolongation of the Q-T interval and the presence of J waves were related to the severity of the hypothermia. Supraventricular arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation, were common (nine cases) and benign. Ventricular extrasystoles were also common (10 cases), but ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation did not occur during rewarming. In eight patients who died while being monitored the terminal rhythm was asystole. There was no correlation between the severity of hypothermia or the rate of rewarming and the clinical outcome. In the absence of malignant arrhythmias there is no indication for using prophylactic antiarrhythmic treatment in patients with accidental hypothermia. The presence or absence of severe underlying disease is the main determinant of prognosis.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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