Non-thermoregulatory shivering in patients recovering from isoflurane or desflurane anesthesia.
BACKGROUND
Although cold-induced shivering is an obvious source of postanesthetic tremor, other causes may contribute. Consistent with this theory, the authors had previously identified an abnormal clonic component of postoperative shivering and proposed that it might be nonthermoregulatory. A subsequent study, however, failed to identify spontaneous muscular activity in normothermic volunteers. These data suggested that the initial theory was erroneous or that a yet-to-be identified factor associated with surgery might facilitate shivering in patients after operation. Therefore, the authors tested the hypothesis that some postoperative tremor is nonthermoregulatory.


METHODS
One hundred twenty patients undergoing major orthopedic operation were observed. They were grouped randomly to receive maintenance anesthesia with nitrous oxide and isoflurane (0.8 +/- 0.4%) or desflurane (3.4 +/- 1.1%). Twenty patients in each group were allowed to become hypothermic, whereas normal body temperatures were maintained in the others (tympanic membrane temperature exceeding preinduction values). Arteriovenous shunt vasoconstriction was evaluated using forearm-minus-fingertip skin-temperature gradients; gradients less than 0 degrees C identified vasodilation. Postanesthetic shivering was graded by a blinded investigator. Tremor in patients who were normothermic and vasodilated was considered nonthermoregulatory.


RESULTS
Thermoregulatory responses were similar after isoflurane or desflurane anesthesia. Approximately 50% of the unwarmed patients shivered. Shivering was observed in 27% of the patients who were normothermic; 55% of this spontaneous muscular activity occurred in vasodilated patients. Among the normothermic patients, 15% fulfilled the authors' criteria for nonthermoregulatory tremor.


CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of postoperative shivering is inversely related to core temperature. Therefore, it was not surprising that shivering was most common among the hypothermic patients. The major findings, however, were that shivering remained common even among patients who were kept scrupulously normothermic and that many shivered while they were vasodilated. Thus, postoperative patients differ from nonsurgical volunteers in demonstrating a substantial incidence of nonthermoregulatory tremor.
Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. EPHORN@CompuServe.com
E P
EP
Horn
D I
DI
Sessler
T
T
Standl
F
F
Schroeder
H J
HJ
Bartz
J C
JC
Beyer
J
J
Schulte am Esch
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000768:Anesthesia, General / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D000077335:Desflurane; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000139:chemically induced; D007530:Isoflurane / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012768:Shivering / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D014432:Tympanic Membrane / Q000502:physiology
D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D000077335:Desflurane; D007530:Isoflurane