Aesthetic surgery journal
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While inadvertent perioperative hypothermia has received serious attention in many surgical specialties, few discussions of hypothermia have been published in the plastic surgery literature. This article reviews the physiology of thermoregulation, describes how both general and regional anesthesia alter the normal thermoregulatory mechanisms, indicates risk factors particularly associated with hypothermia, and discusses the most effective current methods for maintaining normothermia. Hypothermia is typically defined as a core body temperature of /=36.5 degrees C is maintained. ⋯ None of these measures can be adequately employed unless a patient's core body temperature is monitored throughout the perioperative period. Prevention of perioperative hypothermia is neither difficult nor expensive. Proper preventive measures can reduce the risk of complications and adverse outcomes, and eliminate hours of needless pain and misery for our patients.