title: Decreasing the degree of hypothermia during prolonged laparoscopic procedures.
abstract: During the recent surge of advanced laparoscopic procedures, one operative complication, hypothermia, continues to surface. In a retrospective analysis of patients' temperatures during cases ranging between three and six hours, an average beginning temperature of 36.1 degrees C was lowered to an average of 33.3 degrees C. In the recovery room, an average of four to six hours was necessary to return the patient to a normal temperature using warm blankets and a K-pad. The use of warm fluids (intravenous and irrigating) plus a K-pad under the patient during a three- to six-hour operation reduced the temperature drop an average of 0.9 degrees C with a postoperative return to normal within one hour. The use of the above measures plus a Bair Hugger warmer during the three- to six-hour operations reduced the average temperature decrease to 0.5 degrees C, with a return to normal by arrival in the recovery room.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Espanola Hospital, New Mexico 87532.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Seitzinger
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Dudgeon
mesh_terms: D001831:Body Temperature; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010535:Laparoscopy; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors