Sous Vide Rewarming for Frostbitten Extremities

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center1 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of using sous vide devices for heating and maintaining the circulating warm water bath used in the rewarming of acute frostbite.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Frostbite Frostbite of Hand Frostbite of Foot

Interventions

Sous Vide Device (SVD)DEVICE

A basin will be filled to the marked line with water from jugs at room temperature, for each frozen extremity. The sous vide device (SVD) will be attached to the distal edge of the basin. The SVD will be turned on and set to maintain the bath at a constant 38 degrees celsius for 30 minutes duration. The thermometers will be powered on continuously and the researcher will record temperatures simultaneously from each thermometer every 2 minutes. At the end of the 30 minute treatment, the SVD will be powered off and the extremity assessed by the researcher for warmth and pliability. If the extremity still feels cold or frozen, an additional 30 minutes in the water bath will commence, with subsequent reassessment. Rewarming will be considered complete when the affected tissue becomes red or purple, soft, and pliable.

Eligibility

Sex: ALL

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Age 18 or up * Age \<17 with parent or guardian consent * Ability to understand English * Ability to provide consent to the study * Acute frostbite of the hands or feet Exclusion Criteria: * Children under age 18 without parent or guardian * Frostbite that has already thawed * Frostbite of tissue other than hands or feet * Inability to understand English * Inability to provide consent

Locations (1)

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Number of Limbs That Can be Rewarming Within 30 Minutes

Assess if frostbitten extremities can be rewarmed in 30 minutes at 38 degrees celsius using the experimental device

Time frame: 30 minutes

Time to Rewarm in Minutes

Measure the time required to rewarm frostbitten extremities until the extremity is reddish or purple in coloration, and soft and pliable

Time frame: Up to 90 minutes

Secondary Outcomes

Ease of Use: Provider Review of the Investigational Device and Standard of Care

Providers will report ease of use of the rewarming modalities by completing a survey. The survey consists of two questions requesting providers to indicate ease of use of 1) the device and 2) Standard of care (manual water bath) on a scale from 1-10, where 1 indicates easy and 10 indicated difficult.

Time frame: Immediately after rewarming, up to 90 minutes

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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