Continuous venovenous rewarming: results from a juvenile animal model.

Abstract

To compare a standard and an experimental method of rewarming in 5-wk-old goats with induced moderate hypothermia. Hypothermia was induced in ten juvenile Nubian goats. Five goats were randomly assigned to be rewarmed using standard techniques, and five were assigned to the experimental rewarming technique of a modified continuous venovenous hemofiltration circuit. Animal research facility, Greenville Hospital System/Clemson University Biomedical Cooperative, Clemson, S.C. Ten 5-wk-old goats. Hypothermia to a body temperature of 29.4 degrees C was induced in the goats. Each of the control group of five goats was rewarmed using standard methods. Each of the experimental group of five goats was rewarmed using a modified continuous venovenous hemofiltration circuit. At 2 hrs, the median temperature increase in the experimental group was 6.5 degrees C, compared with an increase of only 1.5 degrees C in the control group (p=.02). The mean increase in core body temperature over time (from baseline to 150 mins) was also significantly greater in the experimental group (p=.006). The use of a modified continuous venovenous hemofiltration circuit for rewarming in a juvenile goat model after induction of moderate hypothermia is more effective than are standard methods.