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Summary
Whole-body hyperthermia can cause severe lesions in human organs like the brain and liver. Localized hyperthermia studies in mammals show tissue damage, but long-term effects require further investigation.
Area of Science:
- Pathology
- Toxicology
- Mammalian Physiology
Background:
- Hyperthermia, or elevated body temperature, can be induced spontaneously or artificially.
- Pathological alterations in normal tissues due to hyperthermia have been documented in both humans and mammals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the major pathological alterations caused by whole-body and localized hyperthermia in normal mammalian tissues.
- To identify knowledge gaps regarding the long-term effects of hyperthermia-induced lesions.
Main Methods:
- Review of necropsy findings from fatal human cases of heatstroke and historical hyperpyrexia treatments.
- Analysis of experimental studies on localized hyperthermia in mammals, focusing on described pathologies.
Main Results:
- Whole-body hyperthermia in humans causes severe lesions in the central nervous system, liver, kidney, heart, adrenal glands, testes, and bone marrow.
- Hemorrhagic diathesis is a common finding across multiple tissues in fatal hyperthermia cases.
- Localized hyperthermia studies provide pathological data for skin, muscle, liver, intestine, brain, kidney, and other tissues, but morphological data are often incomplete.
Conclusions:
- Hyperthermia can induce significant and widespread pathological changes in various organs.
- Further research, particularly sequential observations, is needed to understand the ultimate consequences of localized hyperthermia lesions.
- More data are required to establish safety parameters for clinical applications of hyperthermia.