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Heatstroke technically known as hyperthermia – typically occurs when a body temperature is greater than (104.8 °F) due to environmental heat exposure. It is an acute temperature elevation caused by exposure to excessive heat, or combination of heat and humidity, that overwhelms the heat-regulating mechanisms.
Thermal Stress Relief requires rapid physical cooling of the body. Time is critical in this type of medical emergency!
When the core temperature of the body hits 107 degrees the cells deteriorate and the major organs break down. Even if death is avoided severe complications can occur.
Injuries
Risk
Casualties
Heat Stroke
by Ralf W. Blackstone, MD
Research supports a rate for heatstroke of 1 in every 1,000 people for those exercising in a hot environment. However, the rate of thermal injury with organ damage or failure maybe 10x that of actual heatstroke. Among firefighters, there are approximately 100 deaths/year due to thermal injury disease. However, the real morbidity rate is higher but essentially unknown as later deaths may be ascribed to organ failure rather than the thermal injury that caused that failure. Even non- fatalities from heatstroke can suffer long-term disabilities as a result of thermal injury.
The worst heatstroke wave in the US occurred in Chicago in July & August 1995. More than 700 deaths were recorded in a ten day period (mostly from non-exercising people). In the weeks and months that followed approximately another 1,000 victims died of the residual effects of their bout with heatstroke. The largest worldwide heatstroke wave occurred in Europe in July 2003 resulting in more than 70,000 heatstroke deaths, 15,000 in France alone. Nonfatal thermal injuries were not even estimated.
Thus the recognition and rapid effective treatment for thermal injury is of prime importance to the world’s population in a time of global warming, but especially so to firefighters who may care for, or become, victims themselves.
1 Maron BJ, Poliac LC, Roberts WO. Risk for sudden cardiac death associated with marathon running. J Am Coll Cardiol 1996;28:428–31.
2 Kim JH, Malhotra R, Chiampas G, et al. Cardiac arrest during long-distance running races. N Engl J Med 2012;366:130–40.
3 “Classic heat stroke during Chicago 1995 heat wave”. University of Chicago Medicine. August 1, 1998.
4 Robine, Jean-Marie et al. (February 2008). “Death toll exceeded 70,000 in Europe during the summer of 2003”. Comptes Rendus Biologies 331 (2): 171–178. doi:10.1016/j. crvi.2007.12.001.ISSN1631-0691.PMID18241810.
Polar Breeze® is a state-of-the-art total body cooling technology designed and patented to facilitate rapid, localized relief to individuals suffering from thermal stress. The Polar Breeze device provides greater cooling effect than air conditioners and our studies indicate that nothing lowers the general body temperature faster than the Polar Breeze®.
Polar Breeze® utilizes a cold air stream into the largest surface-area organ of the entire body- the lungs. While immersion in ice-water can cool the 1.7 to 2.3 square meters (2.0-2.75 square yards) of the body surface area, the lungs offer a cooling area directly into the bloodstream of 30 to 70 square meters and up to 100 square meters in some athletes – that’s half the size of a tennis court!. Cooling the bloodstream cools the entire body from the inside out, head-to-toe! The greater the surface area, the faster this occurs!
In our own testing, Polar Breeze® has dropped core body temperature 1°F. every two minutes in firefighters undergoing training in a Burn House.
Since Polar Breeze® is not a respirator, the athlete can naturally breathe cold approx. 50°F air continuously into the lungs until his core temperature returns to a safe range.
The higher the Heat Index (a combination of high heat and high humidity), the greater the chance of becoming a heat injury victim.
Regular temperature measurements, hydration, and Polar Breeze® help the firefighter maintain near-normal body temperature during exertion. This may also help maintain focus, concentration, and performance.
References:
1 by Firefighter Life Safety Research Center Illinois Fire Service Institute University of Illinois at Champaign- Urbana – July 2008
2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, “Heat Illness Among High School Athletes- United States 2005-2009’, August 20, 2010, 59(32);1009-1013
3 by American College of Emergency Physicians
4 by American College of Emergency Physicians
Our research indicates that the Polar Breeze® is the fastest known system available. It drops the body’s core temperature (on average) one degree every two minutes.
Testimonials
Ralf W. Blackstone MD.,
Chairman of the Board
& Director of Innovation
Holder of multiple patents, and patents pending in various stages of micro-environmental cooling/drying technology; from cold airstream production concepts and hardware to end-user devices for distributing that airstream