Profound sedative hypothermia. Prolonged lifelessness below 27°C without neurological sequelae

Sedative hypothermia from ethanol or barbiturate poisoning is one of four etiological forms of hypothermia. Frequently of middle age (mean 48 years), patients with profound hypothermia are distinguished by absence of vital signs, normal laboratory values, moderate therapeutic requirements and good prognosis (70% survive at 24°C). Such patients are usually protected from ventricular fibrillation and irreversible ischemic-anoxic damage for long periods of time (days) and rewarming is often spontaneous. Thus, treatment should proceed cautiously and serve not to disturb the precarious balance between sedation and hypothermia in these otherwise normal subjects.