Controlled Comparison of Radio Wave Regional Hyperthermia and Peritoneal Lavage Rewarming after Immersion Hypothermia

Anesthetized random source dogs were cooled by ice-water immersion to a stable core temperature of 25° C and subsequently rewarmed with normal saline peritoneal lavage (43° C, 175 ml/kg/hr) or radio frequency electromagnetic-induced regional hyperthermia (4–6 watts/kg). The mean time required for core rewarming to 30° C was 183 ± 79 minutes for lavage and 58 ± 13 minutes for radio wave therapy (p < 0.01). There was no evidence of tissue damage with either modality. These data suggest radio wave regional hyperthermia is superior to peritoneal lavage for core rewarming of rapidly induced immersion hypothermia.