Risk Factors for Hypothermia during Laparoscopic or Open Surgery of Colorectal Cancer under General Anesthesia

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies, which is commonly treated with curative surgical resection, often leading to intraoperative hypothermia. Therefore, this study aimed to compare and analyze the risk factors for intraoperative hypothermia associated with laparoscopic and open CRC resections under general anesthesia.

This study included 120 CRC patients admitted between January 2023 and January 2024. Data from these patients were analyzed using logistic regression analysis to investigate the risk factors for hypothermia during CRC surgery. Additionally, surgical indicators such as, intraoperative bleeding volume, number of lymph nodes dissected, and operation time, and serum inflammatory markers like Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Interleukin-8 (IL-8) were assessed and compared between the two surgical groups.

The study group comprised 41 men and 79 women, with a mean age of 52.53 ± 8.90 years and an average body mass index (BMI) of 23.13 ± 3.32 kg/m2. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was measured as 1 for 62 (51.67%) patients and 2 for 58 (48.33%). Among them, 50 patients underwent open surgery, whereas 70 patients were treated with laparoscopic surgery. Gender, laparoscopic surgery, intraoperative fluid infusion volume, prolonged anesthesia, and intraoperative blood transfusion were determined as the independent risk factors for intraoperative hypothermia during CRC surgery under general anesthesia (p < 0.05). The intraoperative bleeding volume was significantly reduced (p < 0.01), with significantly longer operation time (p < 0.05) in patients treated with laparoscopic surgery compared to those with open surgery. However, the two groups had a similar number of lymph nodes dissected. Additionally, the levels of IL-6 and IL-8 in both laparoscopic and open surgery of patients increased significantly after surgery, but the extent of increase in the patients of laparoscopic surgery was significantly lower than that in the patients of open surgery (p < 0.05).

In conclusion, gender, surgical approach, intraoperative fluid infusion volume, prolonged anesthesia, and intraoperative blood transfusion are the potential risk factors for hypothermia during laparoscopic radical CRC surgery under general anesthesia.