Regional Distribution in Oesophageal Temperature and Its Use in Localizing Mediastinal Organs and Monitoring Central Blood Temperature

摘要

Distribution of temperature along the length of the oesophageal lumen conforms to a basic pattern, in which the configurational details correspond to the regional distribution of various mediastinal organs around and in the immediate vicinity of the oesophagus. Such organs and tissues (e.g. thyroid, trachea, aortic arc, left atrium, etc.) can therefore be localized in relation to the oesophagus by finding the corresponding configuration in the oesophageal temperature distribution. In the region in which the oesophagus is in intimate contact with the descending aorta and left atrium its lumen temperature seems to reflect closely the temperature of central circulating blood; it follows with only slight distortion, damping and lag the sinusoidal alterations induced in the latter. (Author)