• Ricardo Caio Gracco De Bernardis, Mauro Prado da Silva, Judymara Lauzi Gozzani, Marcelo Lacava Pagnocca, and Lígia Andrade da Silva Telles Mathias.
• Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo, S. Paulo, Brazil. rcaiog@yahoo.com.br
• Rev Assoc Med Bras. 2009 Jul 1;55(4):421-6.

ObjectiveHypothermia is a life-threatening event during the perioperative period. No consensus has been reached about the best active warming approach for such cases. Furthermore there is no consensus on the most appropriate time to warm a hypothermic patient. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a forced-air blanket to warm patients at 38 degrees C before and during surgery. Following utilization of the forced-air blanket, adverse effects were evaluated.MethodsPatients submitted to orthopedic surgeries were divided into four groups of 15 patients. In the control group (Gcont), patients were not warmed with a forced-air blanket. In the preoperative group (Gpre), intraoperative group (Gintra), and total group (Gtotal), patients were warmed at 38 degrees C, during 30 minutes before anesthetic induction, after anesthetic induction up to 120 minutes and before and after the induction, respectively. Parameters evaluated were central (tympanic) temperature, peripheral (skin) temperature, operating room temperature, variations in the hemodynamic conditions and warming-induced adverse effects.ResultsOnly Gtotal did not show significant variation in central temperature. Central temperatures of Gtotal patients were significantly higher (p <0.05) than those of other groups at 60 and 120 min after induction. In Gcont, Gpre and Gintra, patients were hypothermic at 60 min.ConclusionThe forced-air blanket is effective to prevent intraoperative hypothermia when applied for a period ranging from 30 min before anesthetic induction to 120 min after anesthetic induction. In the conditions of this study, adverse effects were not observed.

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