Healthline (Continued from page 10)


also experimenting with the tech- nique in the treatment of certain types of strokes and head injuries. But how do you cool a body that normally maintains a constant temperature that hovers within a few tenths of a degree of 98.6? Any environment with a temperature lower than body temperature can cause the body to lose heat. Deliber- ately making someone hypothermic means increasing the temperature difference between the patient’s body and the environment.


When the surrounding environ- ment is cooler, heat radiates away from the body. Heat is also conducted away when the body is in contact with any colder substance. When the colder substance, such as air or water, is in motion, heat is lost even faster, by convection. Heat is also drawn away by the evaporation of perspira- tion on the skin’s surface, where sweat keeps the humidity at 70 percent even when you think you are dry. Heat also dissipates when warm, moist air is exhaled from the lungs. Several internal and external ways of lowering a patient’s body tempera- ture exist. Ice packs can be applied to the head, neck, armpits, and groin. Cooling blankets that house cold water circuits can be placed around the patient’s body, and closed cath- eters through which cold saline circulates can be inserted into large blood vessels. Ice water balloons can also be inserted into the bladder to reduce the patient’s temperature. These methods of reducing the body’s temperature are directed at the core body heat—the temperature of the internal organs and the brain. They do not cause problems like frostbite, which is commonly seen in cases of accidental hypothermia, because the ambient temperature is not freezing, and the skin is always protected from direct exposure to any ice packs being used for cooling. Normally, we protect ourselves from falling temperatures by putting on more clothes and becoming more active. As the body cools, we also shake and shiver, producing more heat. A patient who has suffered a


56


Departed GL Officers


Past Grand Lodge Committeeman George F. Cudworth, of the Newport, RI, Lodge, died September 28. Member Cudworth served on the Grand Lodge Membership Com- mittee from 2003 to 2005. He was district deputy for the East District of Rhode Island in 1990–1991 and served as president of the Rhode Island State Elks Association in 1996–1997.


District Deputy Gary L. Carter, of the Robinson, IL, Lodge, died Septem- ber 5. Member Carter was serving as district deputy for the East Central District of Illinois at the time of his death.


Past District Deputy James R. Finley, of the Princeton, KY, Lodge, died October 6. Member Finley served as district deputy for the West District of Kentucky in 1999–2000.


Past District Deputy Theodore M. Hurd, of the Eugene, OR, Lodge, died May 16. Member Hurd served as district deputy for the South Central District of Oregon in 1971–1972 and 1987–1988 and was president of the Oregon State Elks Association in 1983–1984.


Past District Deputy Gene V. Lester, of the Princeton, KY, Lodge, died April 22, 2008. Member Lester served as district deputy for the West District of Kentucky in 1988–1989 and was president of the Kentucky Elks Association in 1993–1994.


Past District Deputy Terrance E. Martin, of the Sault Ste. Marie, MI, Lodge, died September 11. Member Martin served as district deputy for the Northeast District of Michigan in 2005–2006.


Past District Deputy Leo R. Stutz, of the Sheboygan, WI, Lodge, died March 1. Member Stutz served as district deputy for the East Central District of Wisconsin in 1990–1991.


“When it comes to my own turn to lay my weapons down, I shall do so with thankfulness and fatigue, and whatever be my destiny afterward, I shall be glad to lie down with my fathers in honour. It is human at least, if not divine.” —ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON


cardiac arrest will shiver and perhaps become agitated, both of which are counterproductive to reducing his body temperature. Sedation and even drug-induced muscle paralysis are therefore necessary during the cooling down process when therapeutic hypothermia is used.


Current therapeutic hypothermia protocols call for the patient’s body temperature to be maintained at between 89.6 and 93.2 for eighteen to twenty-four hours, followed by a period of passive rewarming that lasts twenty-four hours. Cooling the body too much and not cooling the body enough during the procedure are


both common problems that doctors face. Other difficulties include maintaining proper electrolyte and sugar balances.


Some complications like pneumo- nia and bleeding are more common when therapeutic hypothermia is used than in cases where patients are treated at normal temperatures. Much work remains to determine the best time to begin therapeutic hypothermia and when to end it after cardiac arrest, but it is clear that “the sooner the better” is the general consensus and that the revival of interest in therapeutic hypothermia is here to stay. ■


D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1 / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 2


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