[Use of Warm Touch for intraoperative hypothermia]

A 63-year old man was scheduled for nephrectomy and cholecystectomy. Anesthesia was maintained by oxygen-nitrous oxide-isoflurane (0.5 approximately 1%) and epidural anesthesia. Operation was performed with the patient on left decubitus position. At this time, rectal temperature as his core temperature was 35.8 degrees C. Active warming with electrical warming mattress was started and the room temperature was maintained at 25 degrees C during the operation. Thirty minutes after the abdominal incision, rectal temperature decreased to 34.5 degrees C. Active warming was started with forced-air warming system (Warm Touch, Mallinckrodt Medical Co.) on his upper body. Ten minutes after warming, his body temperatures were restored gradually. Three hours after using Warm Touch, rectal temperature recovered to 36.1 degrees C. The intraoperative course was uneventful. At the end of the operation, the patient showed no shivering and general condition was good. In this case, Warm Touch is useful to restore body temperature against intraoperative hypothermia during abdominal surgery.