Hypothermia after burn injury - influence of pre-hospital management

Hypothermia following pre-hospital treatment of burn patients is a common r isk with increasing lethality. Soon after admission to our burn unit, the b ody temperature of 212 adult patients with more than 5% total body surface area burned was documented. We found no influence of the time of pre-hospit al care and cold-water treatment alone on the body temperature. If the pati ents were not anesthetized, the initial temperature was normal. Only the an esthetized and artificial ventilated patients were hypothermic. We conclude that hypothermia is not a problem of the nonanesthetized and cold-water-tr eated patient. However, all anesthetized patients must be carefully treated to avoid hypothermia as an important complication in the pre-hospital mana gement.