A Novel Approach to Frostbite Treatment with a Sous Vide in an Austere Arctic Environment

Environmental injuries are a frequently debilitating hazard for units operating in the Arctic or extreme cold environments (AoECE). Early treatment of cold weather injuries (CWIs) improves the preservation of combat power and reduces the morbidity and reduction in combat power associated with injury. The gold standard treatment of frostbite is a circulating warm water bath at 100.4øF ? 107.6øF. This has historically been difficult to accomplish for units in austere environments due to equipment constraints. However, recent publications by Fiutko et al., and Daniel et al. have raised awareness of a safe and effective means of rewarming extremities affected by cold weather which can be implemented in austere environments.