Afterdrop
As afterdrop (English After drop ), or after-cooling is used in medicine the further lowering of the core body temperature referred to cold exposed by flowing back to the core shell cold blood.
Pathophysiology
If the body is exposed to the cold for a long time, the body temperature drops if more heat is given off through the skin than the body can generate. To reduce heat loss, the blood vessels in the limbs narrow. The vasoconstriction causes the body shell to cool down more quickly, but the warm blood is centralized in the body core and supplies the vital organs .
If the body is now moved, for example to create a shock position or to rescue the person affected, cold blood flows from the extremities back to the core of the body. This can also happen with active warming of the body, for example with the help of warm infusion solutions , as this can lead to a widening of the vessels ( vasodilation ) and thus the colder blood from the body periphery mixes with the warmer blood from the core of the body.
In the worst case, the core body temperature can drop by up to 3 ° C, which reflexively can lead to dangerous cardiac arrhythmias and even cardiovascular arrest , in which possible resuscitation is usually difficult due to hypothermia .
The afterdrop is a common cause of rescue death . One possible method to avoid this is the Hibler heat pack .
swell
- ↑ Jürgen Luxem: Thermal emergencies . In: K. Runggaldier (Ed.): Rescue Service RS / RH . 2nd Edition. Elsevier GmbH, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-437-48041-6 , p. 323 .