Faculty Collaboration Database

The catecholamine, cortisol, and hemodynamic responses to mild perioperative hypothermia. A randomized clinical trial. Anesthesiology 1995 Jan;82(1):83-93

Date

01/01/1995

Pubmed ID

7832339

DOI

10.1097/00000542-199501000-00012

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0028869642 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   333 Citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Unintended hypothermia occurs frequently during surgery and may have adverse effects on the cardiovascular system. Although the mechanisms responsible for the cardiovascular manifestations of hypothermia are unclear, it is possible that they are sympathetically mediated. In this prospective study, relationships between body temperature, the neuroendocrine response, and hemodynamic changes in the perioperative period were examined.

METHODS: Seventy-four elderly patients, undergoing abdominal, thoracic, or lower extremity vascular surgical procedures, were randomly assigned to either "routine care" (n = 37) or "forced-air warming" (n = 37) groups. Throughout the intraoperative and early postoperative periods, the routine care group received standard thermal care, and the forced-air warming group received forced-air skin-surface warming. Core temperature, forearm minus fingertip skin-surface temperature gradient, and plasma concentrations of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol were measured throughout the perioperative period, and the two groups were compared. In addition, heart rate and arterial blood pressure were compared between groups.

RESULTS: The routine care and forced-air warming groups did not differ with regard to age, sex, type of surgical procedures, anesthetic techniques, or postoperative analgesia. Mean core temperature was lower in the routine care group on admission to the postanesthetic care unit (routine care, 35.3 +/- 0.1 degree C; forced-air warming, 36.7 +/- 0.1 degree C; P = 0.0001) and remained lower during the early postoperative period. Forearm minus fingertip skin-surface temperature gradient (an index of peripheral vasoconstriction) was greater in the routine care group in the early postoperative period. The mean norepinephrine concentration (pcg/ml) was greater in the routine care group immediately after surgery (480 +/- 70 vs. 330 +/- 30, P = 0.02) and at 60 min (530 +/- 50 vs. 340 +/- 30, P = 0.002) and 180 min (500 +/- 80 vs. 320 +/- 30, P = 0.004) postoperatively. Mean epinephrine concentrations were not significantly different between groups. Mean cortisol concentrations were increased in both groups during the early postoperative period (P < 0.01), but the differences between groups were not significant. Systolic, mean, and diastolic arterial blood pressures were significantly higher in the routine care group.

CONCLUSIONS: Compared with patients in the forced-air warming group, patients receiving routine thermal care had lower core temperatures, a greater degree of peripheral vasoconstriction, higher norepinephrine concentrations, and higher arterial blood pressures in the early postoperative period. These findings suggest a possible mechanism for hypothermia-related cardiovascular morbidity in the perioperative period.

Author List

Frank SM, Higgins MS, Breslow MJ, Fleisher LA, Gorman RB, Sitzmann JV, Raff H, Beattie C

Author

Hershel Raff PhD Professor in the Academic Affairs department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Aged
Body Temperature
Epinephrine
Female
Hemodynamics
Humans
Hydrocortisone
Hypothermia
Intraoperative Period
Male
Norepinephrine
Postoperative Care
Prospective Studies
Rewarming