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Treatment of acute severe asthma assisted by hypothermia
Author(s) -
BROWNING D.,
GOODRUM D. T.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.1992.tb02124.x
Subject(s) - medicine , hypothermia , anesthesia , myopathy , weaning , halothane , weakness , mechanical ventilation , ventilation (architecture) , acute severe asthma , assisted ventilation , ventilator weaning , creatinine , surgery , respiratory disease , lung , mechanical engineering , engineering
Summary A 20‐year‐old woman in status asthmaticus who failed to respond to conventional therapy and ventilation of the lungs with 0.5–2.0% halothane, was cooled to 30°C for almost 5 days as the arterial carbon dioxide tension rose above 15 kPa. Halothane was not of immediate value, contrary to other reports. A reduction in carbon dioxide production by controlled hypothermia permitted more suitable ventilation parameters, but extensive muscle weakness caused by a steroid‐induced myopathy complicated weaning from respiratory support. Prospective measurement of serum creatinine phosphokinase concentration in patients given high dose corticosteroids may herald the onset of a myopathy.