A Study of Chronic Hypothermia in the Central Nervous System Disorders

Abstract

We investigated 6 patients of central nervous system disorders who showed low body temperature chronically. Their etiologies were varied. Hypothalamic dysfunction was suggested by the endocrinological examination, and clinically brainstem dysfunction was suspected in all cases. Five cases of them were accompanied with circadian rhythm disturbances of body temperature and sleep-wakefulness. This fact suggests that the close relation of thermoregulation and its rhythm mechanism, and also that the pacemakers of sleepwakefulness and body temperature rhythms are situated closely.