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Updated: Mar 7, 2026

Esophageal Heat Transfer for Patient Temperature Control and Targeted Temperature Management
Published on: November 21, 2017
Intraoperative body temperature control: esophageal thermometer versus infrared tympanic thermometer
Vanessa de Brito Poveda1, Ariane de Souza Nascimento2
1Universidade de São Paulo, Escola de Enfermagem, Departamento de Enfermagem Médico Cirúrgica, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Objective:
To verify the correlation between temperature measurements performed using an infrared tympanic thermometer and an esophageal thermometer during the intraoperative period.
Method:
A longitudinal study of repeated measures was performed including subjects aged 18 years or older undergoing elective oncologic surgery of the digestive system, with anesthesia duration of at least 1 hour. Temperature measurements were performed simultaneously by a calibrated esophageal thermometer and by a calibrated infrared tympanic thermometer, with laboratory reading precision of ±0.2ºC. The operating room temperature remained between 19 and 21ºC.
Results:
The study included 51 patients, mostly men (51%), white (80.4%). All patients were kept warm by a forced-air heating system, for an average of 264.14 minutes (SD = 87.7). The two temperature measurements showed no different behavior over time (p = 0.2205), however, tympanic measurements were consistently 1.24°C lower (p<0.0001).
Conclusion:
The tympanic thermometer presented reliable results but reflected lower temperatures than the esophageal thermometer.
Objetivo:
Verificar a correlação entre as medidas de temperatura realizadas por meio de um termômetro timpânico por infravermelho e por um termômetro esofágico, durante o período intraoperatório.
MéTodo:
Realizou-se um estudo longitudinal, de medidas repetidas, incluindo sujeitos com idade igual ou superior a 18 anos, submetidos à cirurgia oncológica eletiva do sistema digestório, com duração da anestesia de, no mínimo, 1 hora. As medidas de temperatura eram realizadas, ao mesmo tempo, por meio de um termômetro esofágico calibrado e por termômetro timpânico por infravermelho calibrado, com precisão de leitura em laboratório de ±0,2ºC. A temperatura da sala operatória permaneceu entre 19 e 21ºC.
Resultados:
Foram incluídos 51 pacientes, em sua maioria homens (51%), brancos (80,4%). Todos os pacientes foram aquecidos com o sistema de ar forçado aquecido, em média por 264,14 minutos (DP = 87,7). As duas medidas de temperatura não tiveram comportamento diferente ao longo do tempo (p = 0,2205), mas a medida timpânica foi consistentemente menor em 1,24°C (p < 0,0001).
ConclusãO:
O termômetro timpânico apresentou resultados confiáveis, mas refletiu temperaturas mais baixas do que o termômetro esofágico.
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