DP15: EFFECT OF PRE-WARMING ON PERIOPERATIVE TEMPERATURE
Allison McIntosh1; Stephanie Lewis, MD2,3; Peter Wu, MD2,3; John Hodgson, MD2,3; Enrico Camporesi, MD2,3
1University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine; 2Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine; 3TEAMHealth, Anesthesia, Tampa General Hospital
Introduction: Perioperative hypothermia is a potential adverse effect on the outcome of anesthetics due to widespread inhibition of thermoregulatory processes. There is no current evidence showing whether pre-warming patients significantly prevent perioperative hypothermia. Therefore, we conducted this warming study.
Methods: We compared intraoperative and postoperative temperatures in consenting patients undergoing general anesthesia (USF IRB#1814, CR000002). Patients were collected based on convenience sampling of patients undergoing intrabdominal surgery and the availability of warming blankets in the preoperative space. The two comparison groups were patients who were pre-warmed with the warming blanket in pre-op while awaiting admission to the OR(n=45) and those who were not pre-warmed in pre-op (n=46) due to a shortage of blankets. Both groups were warmed intraoperatively with the warming blanket. Temperatures were recorded in pre-op (sublingual), intraoperatively every 15 minutes (esophageal), and postoperatively as the first initial temperature in the PACU (sublingual). We then analyzed all patient surgeries lasting approximately 2 hours for those who were pre-warmed (n=24) or not pre-warmed (n=15).
Results: Pre-warming patients did not change temperature outcomes at any point preoperatively, including pre-op, intraoperatively, or postoperatively in PACU.
Conclusion: There was no significant temperature difference; patients were more comfortable using a warming blanket preoperatively. The lack of significant temperature differences between groups may be attributed to heat loss during patient transfer to the operating room.
2-hour surgery group mean temperature and standard deviation
| Group |
Sample size |
Preoperative Temperatures (sublingual) |
1st intraoperative temperature (esophageal) |
Last intraoperative temperature (esophageal) |
PACU Temperature (sublingual) |
|
Pre- warmed |
24 | 36.79 ± 0.33 | 36.13 ± 0.55 | 36.43 ± 0.51 | 36.64 ± 0.32 |
|
Not pre- warmed |
15 | 36.70 ± 0.34 | 36.33 ± 0.72 | 36.23 ± 0.86 | 36.71 ± 0.59 |
|
Unpaired t-test scores |
0.423 | 0.33 | 0.366 | 36.71 ± 0.59 |
Figure: shows the average temperature recording for those who were pre-warmed compared to those who were not pre-warmed in pre-op. The OR temperatures are kept at 68 °F.