Y. Uchiyama-Tanaka / Health 5 (2013) 253-258 257
temperature in the study was 0.597˚C, less than 1.0˚C
suggested by Tei’s et al. Furthermore, the renal impair-
ment of hemodialysis patients in the present study may
lead to accumulation of levels of N-terminal proBNP [7,
15,24,25]. Moreover, this study included a small popula-
tion that was followed up for a very limited duration.
5. CONCLUSION
Using such a convenient and simple method for ther-
mal therapy, the author demonstrated an improvement in
patients who suffered from pain and experienced diffi-
culty with mobility. The therapy also could be conducted
without the side effects associated with other effective
therapies. The author concludes that thermal therapy
using hot water bottles is very safe and tends to decrease
plasma BNP levels in hemodialysis patients with CHF.
6. KEY SUMMARY POINTS
The author assessed the efficacy of substituting infra-
red dry sauna with hot water bottle thermal therapy.
A total of nine patients whose brain natriuretic pep-
tide (BNP) levels were more than 500 pg/mL agreed
to be enrolled in this study and received thermal
therapy using hot water bottles.
Plasma BNP levels tends to decrease (891 ± 448
pg/mL to 680 ± 339 pg/mL), but there was no signi-
ficant difference (P = 0.0845). The oral temperature
changed 36.44˚C ± 0.45˚C to 37.04˚C ± 0.48˚C
(+0.597˚C, P < 0.0001).
Most patients showed an improvement in their symp-
toms and ability to perform activities of daily living.
The author concludes that thermal therapy using hot
water bottle is a very safe and tends to reduce plasma
BNP levels in hemodialysis patients with chronic
heart failure.
7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dr. Uchiyama-Tanaka is the guarantor for this article, and takes re-
sponsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole.
Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Crea-
tive Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any
noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
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