Heat stroke with multiple organ failure treated with cold hemodialysis and cold continuous hemodiafiltration: a case report

Abstract

A 23-year-old comatose man was presented in the emergency room. He had been working inside a building under construction on a hot summer's day. His core body temperature was 42.1 degrees C and he was diagnosed with heat stroke. Urgent cooling procedures, including applying cold vapor to the patient's skin, a gastric lavage with cold water and an intravenous cold saline infusion, were not completely successful and his body temperature remained above 40 degrees C. Because his high temperature was refractory to conventional cooling procedures and we suspected that acute renal failure (ARF) by rhabdomyolysis would develop, we applied hemodialysis (HD) using cold dialysate (initially 30 degrees C and later 35 degrees C), followed by continuous hemodiafiltration (CHDF) with cold dialysate (35 degrees C) at a high flow rate of 18,000 mL per hour. The patient's body temperature fell below 38.0 degrees C within 3 h and was kept below 38.0 degrees C. Continuous hemodiafiltration was continued for one week. During the first week, the patient suffered from multiple organ failure (MOF) involving renal failure, as well as the failure of heart, liver, lung, and central nervous systems. Disseminated intravascular coagulation also developed. However, by virtue of cold CHDF, he almost recovered 3 weeks after the onset, except for remaining mild liver and renal dysfunction. In severe heat stroke, cold HD and high flow, cold CHDF should be a therapeutic choice for cooling and treatment of MOF. Considering mild liver and renal dysfunction still remained, this case suggested these procedures should be initiated at the very beginning of the treatment of severe heat stroke.