In the fixed effect model , the warming group had significantly less pain and lower incidence of wound infection , compared with the no-warming group .
In the r and om effect model , the warming group was also associated with lower risk of post-anesthetic shivering .
Both in the r and om and the fixed effect models , the warming group was associated with significantly less blood loss .
Perioperative warming of surgical patients is effective in reducing postoperative wound pain , wound infection and shivering .
Systemic warming of the surgical patient is also associated with less perioperative blood loss through preventing hypothermia-induced coagulopathy .
OBJECTIVE The objective of this review was to systematic ally analyze the trials on the effectiveness of perioperative warming in surgical patients .
Perioperative normothermia to reduce the incidence of surgical-wound infection and shorten hospitalization. Study of Wound Infection and Temperature Group.
BACKGROUND Mild perioperative hypothermia , which is common during major surgery , may promote surgical-wound infection by triggering thermoregulatory vasoconstriction , which decreases subcutaneous oxygen tension . Reduced levels of oxygen in tissue impair oxidative killing by neutrophils and decrease the strength of the healing wound by reducing the deposition of collagen . Hypothermia also directly impairs immune function . We tested the hypothesis that hypothermia both increases susceptibility to surgical-wound infection and lengthens hospitalization . METHODS Two hundred patients undergoing colorectal surgery were r and omly assigned to routine intraoperative thermal care ( the hypothermia group ) or additional warming ( the normothermia group ) . The patient 's anesthetic care was st and ardized , and they were all given cefam and ole and metronidazole . In a double-blind protocol , their wounds were evaluated daily until discharge from the hospital and in the clinic after two weeks ; wounds containing culture-positive pus were considered infected . The patients ' surgeons remained unaware of the patients ' group assignments . RESULTS The mean ( + /- SD ) final intraoperative core temperature was 34.7 + /- 0.6 degrees C in the hypothermia group and 36.6 + /- 0.5 degrees C in the normothermia group ( P < 0.001 ) Surgical-wound infections were found in 18 of 96 patients assigned to hypothermia ( 19 percent ) but in only 6 of 104 patients assigned to normothermia ( 6 percent , P = 0.009 ) . The sutures were removed one day later in the patients assigned to hypothermia than in those assigned to normothermia ( P = 0.002 ) , and the duration of hospitalization was prolonged by 2.6 days ( approximately 20 percent ) in hypothermia group ( P = 0.01 ) . CONCLUSIONS Hypothermia itself may delay healing and predispose patients to wound infections . Maintaining normothermia intraoperatively is likely to decrease the incidence of infectious complications in patients undergoing colorectal resection and to shorten their hospitalizations
In the fixed effect model , the warming group had significantly less pain and lower incidence of wound infection , compared with the no-warming group .
In the r and om effect model , the warming group was also associated with lower risk of post-anesthetic shivering .
Both in the r and om and the fixed effect models , the warming group was associated with significantly less blood loss .
Perioperative warming of surgical patients is effective in reducing postoperative wound pain , wound infection and shivering .
Systemic warming of the surgical patient is also associated with less perioperative blood loss through preventing hypothermia-induced coagulopathy .
OBJECTIVE The objective of this review was to systematic ally analyze the trials on the effectiveness of perioperative warming in surgical patients .