Thermal management in patients undergoing elective spinal surgery in prone position - a prospective randomized trial
Abstrakt
BACKGROUND: Perioperative hypothermia is a common complication of surgery. The hypothesis, that a new self-warming blanket (Barrier(R) EasyWarm(R), Mölnlycke Health Care) is better at reducing the incidence of perioperative hypothermia in spinal surgery compared to passive insulation techniques, was tested.
METHODS: In this prospective randomized study, 100 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I-III who were scheduled to undergo spinal surgical procedures with an expected duration of surgery <2 hours were enrolled. Patients were assigned to either the control group, which received standard perioperative care, or to the group that received preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative use of the active self-warming blanket.
RESULTS: The axillary body temperatures were not different at baseline, but were significantly lower in the control group at the time of departure to the operating theater (36.0+-0.5 vs. 36.3+-0.4, P = 0.0086). Patients in the self-warming blanket group had higher esophageal temperatures intraoperatively, higher axillary temperatures in the recovery room, and fewer episodes of postoperative shivering (1/46 vs. 8/46, P = 0.0352).
No significant differences were observed in other recorded measures. CONCLUSION: The use of the active self-warming blanket provided more satisfactory body temperature control and decreased the number of episodes of postoperative shivering.