Medics highlight heatstroke risks of saunas

Heartlands Hospital medics have written a case report about a woman who suffered severe heatstroke and organ failure

Sauna users have been urged to stay hydrated after a woman suffered severe heatstroke with multi-organ failure after basking for too long in the heat.

In a case report for a medical journal, experts from Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham described how the patient needed hospital care for 12 days.

The unnamed woman in her early 70s suffered a heatstroke that led to serious problems, including a heart attack, seizures, liver injury and kidney injury.

Only around 10 cases of heatstroke linked to saunas have been documented, the medics said.

The woman, a daily gym-goer, was found unconscious at an indoor sauna at her local gym. Before getting in the sauna she had done stretching exercises for around 45 minutes.

Paramedics found her with an extremely high core body temperature of 42C, very low blood pressure and a fast heart rate.

The woman had a seizure after being taken to the emergency department at Heartlands Hospital

The woman, who had a history of type 1 diabetes and thyroid problems, was taken to the emergency department at Heartlands Hospital.

The patient was unresponsive and had a seizure in the emergency department. She was then cooled with wet towels and a fan, which saw her body temperature return to normal levels, medics said.

The woman regained consciousness two hours after returning to normal body temperature, but she was confused and drowsy for two days.

Further investigations revealed she had suffered acute kidney injury, which had resolved 48 hours after she was admitted to hospital. On the second day of her hospital stay, doctors found she had abnormal liver function.

She was also found to have suffered a form of heart attack.

'Very lucky'

"The most likely diagnosis was likely to be classical heat stroke with multi-organ failure," the doctors wrote in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

"To the best of our knowledge, there have been fewer than 10 previously reported cases of heatstroke secondary to sauna use," they said, including three deaths.

Medics saw the woman in hospital 26 days after the heatstroke and found she had "returned to her baseline health status" but was still suffering from fatigue.

"My experience has emphasised the dangers of saunas," the patient said.

"On reflection, I believe I had not drunk enough water."

She added that it was important for sauna users to stay hydrated and for saunas to be regularly checked by staff.

She said she was now feeling well and she knew she was "very lucky".