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Updated: Mar 12, 2026

Esophageal Heat Transfer for Patient Temperature Control and Targeted Temperature Management
Published on: November 21, 2017
Intraoperative temperature regulation in children using a liquid-warming garment
Mariya E Skube1, Robert D Acton2, Victor S Koscheyev3
1Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota, 420 Delaware St SE, MMC 195, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA. hache005@umn.edu.
Purpose:
Children undergoing operative intervention while induced under general anesthesia are at risk for experiencing a significant decrease in core body temperature that can lead to adverse systemic effects. Given that the head contributes an estimated 18% of a child's body surface area, we theorized that a liquid-warming garment applied to the head could control a pediatric patient's core body temperature during surgical procedures.
Methods:
Patients undergoing elective, non-cranial, general surgical procedures were enrolled in the study. A head garment with an embedded network of tubing was placed on the patient. The garment connected to a computer-controlled water bath that managed the temperature of the water in the tubing through a feedback mechanism.
Results:
Ten patients with ages ranging from 1 day to 3 years (mean age 10.5 months) were enrolled in this study. The average procedure length was 82.5 min. The mean core body temperature throughout the procedure for all-comers was 36.5 ± 0.9 °C with an overall mean difference in maximum and minimum temperatures of 1.32 ± 1.1 °C.
Conclusion:
A liquid-warming garment applied to the head of pediatric surgical patients is an innovative and relatively low-cost means to regulate and to maintain the ideal core body temperature of patients undergoing surgical procedures.
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