Conductive Skin Warming and Hypothermia: An Observational Study

Area of Science:

• Anesthesiology
• Surgical Patient Care
• Thermoregulation

Background:

• Perioperative hypothermia affects most surgical patients undergoing anesthesia.
• Existing warming technologies present challenges with patient positioning.
• Effective preventive measures are crucial for maintaining normothermia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the outcomes of hypothermia prevention using a combination of preoperative and intraoperative conductive skin warming (CSW).
• To compare the efficacy of CSW with forced air warming (FAW) in surgical patients.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective observational study of 972 adult surgical patients receiving general or neuraxial anesthesia.
• Patients received either conductive skin warming (CSW) or forced air warming (FAW) for perioperative warming.
• Primary endpoint: temperature on arrival in the postanesthesia care unit.

Main Results:

• Overall hypothermia occurred in 3.5% of patients; 16.7% when active warming was not used.
• When CSW was used preoperatively and intraoperatively, 4.1% of patients became hypothermic.
• When CSW was used preoperatively and FAW intraoperatively, 2.3% became hypothermic.
• Nearly all patients (96.5%) remained normothermic when active warming methods were tailored to individual needs.

Conclusions:

• Active warming methods, particularly CSW, are effective in preventing perioperative hypothermia.
• Tailoring warming strategies based on patient needs significantly improves normothermia rates.
• Conductive skin warming offers a viable alternative for perioperative patient warming.