Tympanic temperature during therapeutic hypothermia.
Emerg Med J
; 28(6): 483-5, 2011 Jun.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-20581385
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Prehospital induction of therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest may require temperature monitoring in the field. Tympanic temperature is non-invasive and frequently used in clinical practice. Nevertheless, it has not yet been evaluated in patients undergoing mild therapeutic hypothermia (MTH). Therefore, a prospective observational study was conducted comparing three different sites of temperature monitoring during therapeutic hypothermia.METHODS:
Ten consecutive patients admitted to our medical intensive care unit after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest were included in this study. During MTH, tympanic temperature was measured using a digital thermometer. Simultaneously, oesophageal and bladder temperatures were recorded in a total of 558 single measurements.RESULTS:
Compared with oesophageal temperature, bladder temperature had a bias of 0.019°C (limits of agreement ± 0.61°C (2SD)), and tympanic measurement had a bias of 0.021°C (± 0.80°C). Correlation analysis revealed a high relationship for tympanic versus oesophageal temperature (r = 0.95, p < 0.0001) and also for tympanic versus bladder temperature (r = 0.96, p < 0.0001).CONCLUSIONS:
That tympanic temperature accurately indicates both oesophageal and bladder temperatures with a very small discrepancy in patients undergoing MTH after cardiac arrest is demonstrated in this study. Although our results were obtained in the hospital setting, these findings may be relevant for the prehospital application of therapeutic hypothermia as well. In this case, tympanic temperature may provide an easy and non-invasive method for temperature monitoring.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Tympanic Membrane
/
Body Temperature
/
Emergency Medical Services
/
Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
/
Hypothermia, Induced
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Emerg Med J
Journal subject:
MEDICINA DE EMERGENCIA
Year:
2011
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Germany