Comparison of rewarming by radio wave regional hyperthermia and warm humidified inhalation.

Anesthetized random source dogs were cooled by ice water immersion to a stable core temperature of 25 degrees C and subsequently rewarmed with warm humidified inhalation (43 degrees C, 450 cc of min ventilation X kg-1) or radio-frequency induction hyperthermia (4-6 watts X kg-1). The mean time required for core rewarming to 30 degrees C was 280 +/- 114 min for ventilation and 58 +/- 13 min for radio wave therapy (p less than 0.001). There was no evidence of tissue damage with either modality. These data suggest radio wave heating is superior to warm humidified inhalation therapy for core rewarming of rapidly induced immersion hypothermia.