Abstract:

Aim: Perioperative hypothermia is a common problem during anesthesia procedure. In this study we aimed to determine if preoperative warming was effective at preventing involuntary hypothermia in patients undergoing neurosurgery for intracranial mass. Material and Methods: Patients undergoing surgery for intracranial mass lesions were prospectively and randomly assigned into two groups. The study group was warmed up before the operation with an active warming device. In the control group, only the blanket was covered. Both groups were warmed intraoperatively. Vital signs (invasive arterial blood pressure in addition to standard monitoring), body temperature every 30 minutes, and lactate from arterial blood gas hourly were measured every 15 minutes. Shivering scores, total anesthesia and operation time, amount of drug consumed, amount of iv fluid and bleeding were noted. Results: A total of 72 patients were included and divided into two groups of 36 patients each. There was no significant difference in terms of demographics and clinical characteristics between the groups. There was a statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of the temperature values during the period between 15–255 minutes of surgery. There was statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of inadvertent hypothermia incidence (p<0.05). At least one hypothermic measurement was spotted in all of control patients. Only %11.1 of patients in pre-warmed group had hypothermic temperature incidence. Conclusion: Active pre-warming with body surface warming systems is effective at preventing of inadvertent hypothermia in patients undergoing intracranial surgery for mass lesions.

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