Experiments with a bowl of saline: the hidden risk of hypothermic-osmotic damage during topical cardiac cooling

Abstract

Some of the misconceptions in the application of cardiac hypothermia are that the temperature of cold normal saline solution is necessarily above 0 degrees C, cold saline solution and slush are relatively safe for living tissues, and normal saline will retain normal osmolality even if partially frozen. These postulates were examined in thermodynamic experiments that demonstrated three points: (1) The temperature of unfrozen saline solution may drop way below the freezing point. (2) When liquids and solid components of saline solution are separated, the components will become hypo-osmolar or hyperosmolar. (3) Ice chips and slush ice produced in the operating rooms may reach temperatures as low as -36 degrees C. We recommend that the possibility of these events should be taken into consideration whenever topical cardiac hypothermia is clinically applied.