Intraoperative hypothermia and ventricular shunt infections

Several recent studies have demonstrated a relationship between intraoperative hypothermia and postoperative infection. A study was therefore conducted to evaluate the relationship between intraoperative hypothermia and ventricular shunt infections. Sixty-eight children who underwent ventricular shunt placement, including revisions, over a six year period subsequently developed a shunt infection (overall shunt infection rate of 5%). Mean age was 8 years (range, neonate to 20 years). The last 74 children who underwent ventricular shunt placement without subsequent infection served as a comparison group. The anesthetic records of all cases were reviewed to determine the lowest core temperature recorded during the surgical procedure. The lowest core temperature varied from 33.9 degrees C to 37.7 degrees C (mean 36.0 degrees C). Hypothermia was defined as a temperature less than 35.1 degrees C. No relationship was found between hypothermia and the subsequent occurrence of a shunt infection (P = 0.45). When those children less than 2 years old were excluded from analysis, there was a trend towards statistical significance (P = 0.07). In summary, this study failed to show any significant relationship between the occurrence of intraoperative hypothermia and subsequent ventriculoperitoneal shunt infection in a group of pediatric patients.