O2135: Don’t Sweat It: Impact of Room Temperature on Patient Temperature During Pediatric Spine Surgery

Background: Although the topic remains controversial, there is concern that intraoperative hypothermia leads to increased complication rates. To minimize intraoperative hypothermia the room temperature is often raised, which has been shown to negatively impact surgeon performance. The impact of room temperature on patient temperature remains unclear. In this prospective single-center study, we hypothesize that in the presence of forced air warming blankets and draping for pediatric spine procedures, the ambient room temperature will have little impact on patient temperature.

Methods: Patients undergoing thoracolumbar posterior spinal fusion were prospectively enrolled. In addition to patient demographics and clinical data, room temperature data was acquired using a Fireboard 2 Thermometer (Fireboard Labs, Kansas City MO). Temperature probes were placed: 1) in the open air, 2) at the shoulder/upper body under the drapes and 3) at the hip/lower body under the forced air warming blanket (Bair Hugger). Data were continuously recorded and analyzed in 5-minute increments. Patients were excluded if the warming blanket was not used or was only set on low. In cases where the warming blanket was turned down or off later in the case, analysis was stopped after that point. Hypothermia was defined as a body temp < 35°Celsius.

Results: There were 1034 datapoints at 5-minute increments analyzed from 86 hours of collected surgical data. While the air warming blanket was used, mean temperature around the patient’s upper body was 34.1±0.1°C and lower body was 38.4±0.1°C. Average room temperature was 22.6±0.1 °C. Temperature around the patient’s upper body was an average of 11.5° greater than the room temperature and around the lower body was an average of 15.8° greater than the room temperature. Temperature around the upper body and lower body did not correlate with room temperature (p= 0.53, p=0.95).

Mean patient temperature at the start of the procedure was 35.4°C and 19.2% were hypothermic. Increases in patient temperature when the forced air warmer was on were not correlated with room temperature (p=0.38) (Figure 1).

Conclusion: Increasing room temperature does not appear to impact patient temperature during spinal fusion when forced air warming blankets are used suggesting that keeping the room at a comfortable temperature for the surgical team is not detrimental to the patient.