Volume 25, Issue 114, August 2021

A prospective comparative study between prewarming and cowarming to prevent intraoperative hypothermia in spinal anaesthesia

Aruna V Chandak¹, Krishnendu S^2♦, Vijay Chandak³, Vivek Chakole⁴

¹Professor, Department of anaesthesia, JNMC, Wardha, Maharashtra, India
²Junior Resident, Department of anaesthesia, JNMC, Wardha, Maharashtra, India
³Associate Professor, Department of anaesthesia, JNMC, Wardha, Maharashtra, India
⁴Professor, Head of Department, Department of anaesthesia, JNMC, Wardha, Maharashtra, India

^♦Corresponding author
Junior Resident, Department of anaesthesia, JNMC, Wardha, Maharashtra, India;

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Temperature is one of the important parameter to be monitored in anaesthesia. Regional anaesthesia impairs thermoregulation as in general anaesthesia. There are several studies comparing different techniques to prevent intraoperative hypothermia. This study was done to compare the effect of prewarming and cowarming in preventing intraoperative hypothermia after subarachnoid block in cesarean section. Methods: A Prospective comparative study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital, 100 patients were enrolled and they were divided into 2 groups of 50 each, Group X (Prewarming) –Patients were pre warmed before induction in pre operative room. It was done by setting the temperature to 40◦C for 30 minutes. Group Y (Cowarming) - Patient were warmed as soon as the patient is shifted to the operating room using forced air warming blanket. Core temperature (rectal temperature) and the peripheral temperature (axillary temperature) were measured before induction and intraoperatively and incidences of shivering in both groups were studied. Results: It was observed that Pre warming the patient reduced the rate of fall of temperature compared to cowarming group but, there were no significant difference in measurements between the two groups, with mean (SD) final rectal temperatures of 36.6(1.8)oC with group X and 35.9(1.1)oC with the group Y. The incidence of shivering observed in Group X was 8.3% and in Group Y was 14%. Conclusion: Warming the patient preoperatively along with intraoperative warming reduces hypothermia compared to only intraoperative forced air warming blanket. But, there is no significant difference between the two groups. Only cowarming is as effective as pre warming.

Keywords: Hypothermia, Cowarming, Prewarming, Intraoperative warming, Spinal anaesthesia.

Medical Science, 2021, 25(114), 1947-1954

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