Preventing hypothermia in outpatient plastic surgery by self-warming or forced-air-warming blanket: A randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND In our outpatient post anaesthesia unit patients reported that they were feeling cold with or without shivering. Anaesthetic agents cause reduced thermoregulation, initially by redistribution of blood flow from core to periphery, later by negative balance between thermogenesis and heat loss. Even mild peri-operative hypothermia increases the risk of surgical wound infections, bleeding, impaired cardiac function, shivering, and decreases comfort. OBJECTIVE(S) We aimed to evaluate which of our current active warming measures, self-warming blanket or forced-air-warming blanket, were most effective in preventing inadvertent intraoperative heat loss. Secondarily, we assessed whether they prevented inadvertent peri-operative hypothermia when defined as core body temperature below 36 °C. DESIGN Randomised controlled trial, parallel group design. SETTING Aleris Solsiden hospital for outpatient surgery, Trondheim, Norway, from March to June 2016. PATIENTS A total of 112 consecutive patients planned for outpatient plastic surgery. Reasons for noninclusion: failing to meet the criteria for outpatient surgery according to the standard of the national society of anaesthesiology. INTERVENTION(S) Patients were randomised to active warming by a self-warming blanket or a forced-air-warming blanket. All patients received routine measures to prevent hypothermia with a high temperature in the operation theatres, prewarmed fluids, cotton blankets and surgical drapin...
Source: European Journal of Anaesthesiology - Category: Anesthesiology Tags: Work environment Source Type: research