Maintaining perioperative normothermia

doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7392.721

BMJ 2003;326:721-722 ( 5 April )

Editorials

Maintaining perioperative normothermia

A simple, safe, and effective way of reducing complications of surgery

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Perioperative hypothermia can have a wide range of underappreciated, detrimental effects. These include increased rates ofwound infection, morbid cardiac events, blood loss, and lengthof stay in both recovery and hospital. Maintaining core temperatureat or above 36°C can be beneficial for the patient and costeffective.

Frank et al studied high risk cardiac patients undergoing thoracic, abdominal, and vascular surgery.¹ Patients randomisedto routine thermal care were, on average, 1.3°C cooler than patientswarmed more aggressively. Despite this small difference the incidenceof perioperative morbid cardiac events, assessed in a double blindfashion, was 300% higher in the cooler group. Frank et al thoughtthat this may be the a consequence of the dramatic increase innoradrenaline release seen in even mildhypothermia.

It has also been said that the increase in noradrenaline may contribute to the higher number of wound infections seen in hypothermicpatients. A randomised . . . [Full text of this article]

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Rapid Responses:

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Does pyrexia improve outcome?: Richard G Fiddian-Green
bmj.com, 5 Apr 2003 [Full text]
maintaining perioperative normothermia: john r. may
bmj.com, 6 Apr 2003 [Full text]
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