Cooling System to Treat Exercise-Induced Hyperthermia
Abstract
Air Combat Command has designated non-invasive cooling of trauma patients to prevent hypothermia from point of injury to role 4 facilities and temperature maintenance among air evacuation patients to be a research priority. This presentation discusses findings from a study designed to determine the effectiveness of a cooling pump based patient thermal management system supplied by Aspen Systems on lowering core body temperature after temperature elevation caused by physical activity. Six active duty Air Force volunteers between the ages of 19 and 45 ingested a CorTemp core body temperature sensor. Subjects exercised on a treadmill for 60 minutes or until core temperature elevated 1C above baseline. Subjects then rested supine on a standard NATO litter for 60 minutes or when core temperature returned to subjects baseline. Subjects repeated the exercise-then-rest regimen a second time, except resting occurred with the Aspen litter cooling pad. A reduction in cooling time to baseline by half for each subject using the cooling pad compared with cooling naturally was determined to be a level of significance. None of the subjects showed a significant decrease in cooling time to baseline core temperature using the Aspen litter cooling pad when compared to cooling naturally. The Aspen Systems thermal management system may have a role in the prevention of hypothermia among trauma patients or with temperature maintenance among air evacuation patients. However, as utilized in this study, the system is not considered to be effective as a treatment modality for patients with hyperthermia.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1013223
Entities
People
- Edward S. Eveland
- Kevin D. Hettinger
- Lloyd Jr D. Tripp
- Reginard B. O'hara
- Robert Jr H. Gallavan
Organizations
- United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine