[Cardiopulmonary resuscitation with continuous veno-venous hemofiltration for intraoperative cardiac arrest owing to hypothermia--a case report].

A 77-year-old female was scheduled for an exploratory laparotomy under nitrous oxide-oxygen-neurolept anesthesia. At the time of admission to the operating room, the rectal temperature was 36.0 degrees C. From the beginning of operation, the body temperature dropped slowly despite constant efforts of warming with a blanket and warm intravenous fluids. At 5 hours and 15 minutes after the beginning of operation, she developed cardiac arrest due to hypothermia. At this time the rectal temperature was 31.8 degrees C. In spite of cardioversion and intravenous administration of epinephrine, we could not resuscitate her successfully. Immediately, rewarming was started with continuous veno-venos hemofiltration (CVVH). When the rectal temperature rose to 32.9 degrees C one hour after the rewarming, cardioversion was performed again and spontaneous heart beat was observed. As soon as the rectal temperature rose to 34.0 degrees C, CHF was stopped. Her consciousness recovered 2 hours and 10 minutes after cardiopulmonary resuscitation, we conclude that rewarming with CVVH can be an effective method of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a patient suffering cardiac arrest due to hypothermia.