Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heat stroke
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15381/anales.v85i4.28784Keywords:
Heat Stroke, Heat Stress Disorders, Heat Wave, Diagnosis, TherapeuticsAbstract
Heat stroke is a serious medical condition that can lead to multiple organ failure and even death if not identified and intervened in a timely manner. The objective is to narratively synthesize the best available evidence regarding the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heat stroke. A systematic search was conducted in Pubmed/MEDLINE and in repositories of standard-setting bodies. Four clinical practice guidelines and eight technical documents were included. The diagnosis of heat stroke is based on a body temperature above 40°C accompanied by clinical symptoms. Prevention focuses on self-care, avoiding excessive exposure to heat, maintaining proper hydration and wearing appropriate clothing. In case of heat stroke, it is essential to move the patient to a cool environment, hydrate and apply physical cooling methods. Treatment is organized in two phases. The first phase is pre-hospital, which includes stabilization, passive cooling and intravenous fluids. The second phase is the hospital phase, where cooling is continued until a rectal temperature of 39°C is reached. Fluids should be administered for hemodynamic support and antipyretics should be avoided. In conclusion, the present narrative review has identified strategies for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of heat stroke, based on the best available evidence.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Anales de la Facultad de Medicina
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Those authors who have publications with this magazine accept the following terms:
- Authors will retain their copyrights and guarantee the journal the right of first publication of their work, which will be simultaneously subject to Creative Commons Attribution License that allows third parties to share the work as long as its author and its first publication this magazine are indicated.
- Authors may adopt other non-exclusive licensing agreements for the distribution of the version of the published work (eg, deposit it in an institutional electronic file or publish it in a monographic volume) provided that the initial publication in this magazine is indicated.
- Authors are allowed and recommended to disseminate their work over the Internet (eg: in institutional telematic archives or on their website) before and during the submission process, which It can produce interesting exchanges and increase quotes from the published work. (See El efecto del acceso abierto ).
