Heated Humidified Breathing Circuit Rewarming in Hypothermic Patients Post-Cardiopulmonary Bypass-Pilot Study

Hypothermia on intensive care unit (ICU) admission after cardiac surgery and cardiopulmonary bypass is common. It contributes to postoperative complications including shivering, coagulopathy, increased blood loss and transfusion requirements, morbid cardiac events, metabolic acidosis, increased wound infections, and prolonged hospital length of stay. The current standard of care for rewarming ICU patients is forced air warming blankets. However, high-quality evidence on additional benefit rendered by other warming methods, such as heated humidified breathing circuits (HHBC), is lacking. Therefore, the authors conducted a pilot study to examine whether the addition of HHBC to standard forced air warming blankets in hypothermic patients (≤35°C) admitted to the ICU after cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass reduced time to normothermia.

Prospective study conducted at a single large academic medical center.

The study group was composed of 14 patients who were enrolled prospectively between April 1 and June 14, 2019. The study group was compared with a 2:1 matched retrospective control group. The matched group consisted of 28 patients from a 12-month period from July 1, 2018 June 30, 2019.

Study patients received warming via forced air warming blankets and HHBC and were compared with patients in a control group who received only warming blankets. Time to normothermia, time to extubation, time to normal pH, blood loss, blood transfusions, and coagulation profile laboratory values were compared between the study and control groups.

The present study found no statistical difference in time to normothermia, for which the standard-of-care retrospective group achieved normothermia after a median (Q1-Q3) 4.8 (4.0-6.0) hours compared with 4.4 (3.5-5.5) hours in the prospective group receiving HHBC. All secondary outcomes, including time to extubation, time to normal pH, ICU blood product transfusion, chest tube output, and coagulation profile, were similar.

The present pilot study detected a similar time to normothermia, extubation, and normal pH when HHBC were added to standard forced air warming blankets in hypothermic patients (≤35°C) admitted to the ICU after cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass. A future larger prospective study designed to detect smaller, but clinically meaningful, reductions in the time to key clinical events for patients treated with HHBC is feasible and warranted.