Perioperative hypothermia and incidence of surgical wound infection: a bibliographic study

The purpose of this review article was to understand and analyze the scientific production related to the occurrence of perioperative hypothermia and the incidence of infection on the surgical site. For this purpose, a search was conducted in the databases LILACS, MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL and Cochrane, using the health science descriptors DECS, from 2004 to 2009. A total of 91 articles were found. After eliminating duplicate items and using selection criteria for inclusion, six manuscripts remained for analysis. The studies were classified as retrospective, prospective, case studies, and clinical trials. After analysis, the majority of studies showed that hypothermia must be prevented during the perioperative period to reduce complications in the healing process of the surgical incision. Therefore, unadverted hypothermia directly influences in surgical site healing, increasing the incidence of infection in the surgical wound.