Therapeutic hyperthermia improves survival in critically ill patients with sepsis, study suggests

USA: Findings from a pilot randomized trial published in Critical Care Medicine revealed that therapeutic hyperthermia is associated with lower mortality in afebrile critically ill patients with sepsis. Further study is, however, warranted to better explain the impact of temperature modulation on immune and nonimmune organ failure pathways in sepsis.

The study was conducted by Anne M Drewry, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, and colleagues with the objective to test the hypothesis that forced-air warming of critically ill afebrile sepsis patients improves immune function compared to standard temperature management. 

In a single-center, prospective, open-label, randomized controlled trial performed across one thousand two hundred-bed academic medical center, eligible patients were mechanically ventilated septic adults with: 1) a diagnosis of sepsis within 48 hours of enrollment; 2) anticipated need for mechanical ventilation of greater than 48 hours; and 3) a maximum temperature less than 38.3°C within the 24 hours prior to enrollment. A total of 56 participants were enrolled in the study.