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Surgical Site Infection in Thoracic Surgery Is Not Associated With Perioperative Hypothermia
Albert P Nguyen1, Minh Tran2, Swapnil Khoche2
1Division of Critical Care Medicine, Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Santa Rosa, USA.
Cureus
|August 2, 2022
Summary
Perioperative hypothermia is common in thoracic surgery patients. Despite this, maintaining normal body temperature did not significantly impact surgical site infection rates in this pilot study.
Area of Science:
- Thoracic Surgery
- Perioperative Medicine
- Infection Control
Background:
- The Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) mandates perioperative temperature management to reduce surgical site infections (SSIs).
- This measure was initially developed for colorectal surgery, but its applicability to thoracic surgery was questioned.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the incidence and duration of hypothermia in thoracic surgery patients.
- To determine the impact of perioperative hypothermia on surgical site infections within 30 days post-operation.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective, single-center pilot study analyzed two years of thoracic surgery cases.
- Hypothermia was defined as a core body temperature below 36°C.
- Data collected included intraoperative temperatures, SSI occurrence, and length of stay.
Main Results:
- 62% of 317 thoracic surgery patients experienced hypothermia (average temperature 35.4°C).
- Three out of four SSIs occurred in the hypothermic group (p=1), showing no statistically significant difference.
- The hypothermic group had a significantly shorter average hospital length of stay (5.5 days vs. 8.6 days, p=0.0024).
Conclusions:
- Perioperative hypothermia is prevalent in thoracic surgery.
- Hypothermia did not negatively affect surgical site infection rates in this patient population.
- Further research is needed to understand the implications of hypothermia in thoracic surgery.
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