Evaluation of the Temple Touch Pro™ noninvasive core-temperature monitoring system in 100 adults under general anesthesia: a prospective comparison with esophageal temperature.

Perioperative hypothermia is still common and has relevant complication for the patient. An effective perioperative thermal management requires essentially an accurate method to measure core temperature. So far, only one study has investigated the new Temple Touch Pro™ (Medisim Ltd., Beit-Shemesh, Israel). during anesthesia Therefore, we assessed the agreement between the Temple Touch Pro™ thermometer (TTP) and distal esophageal temperature (TEso) in a second study. After approval by the local ethics committee we studied 100 adult patients undergoing surgery with general anesthesia. Before induction of anesthesia the TTP sensor unit was attached to the skin above the temporal artery. After induction of anesthesia an esophageal temperature probe was placed in the distal esophagus. Recordings started 10 min after placement of the esophageal temperature probe to allow adequate warming of the probes. Pairs of temperature values were documented in five-minute intervals until emergence of anesthesia. Accuracy of the two methods was assessed by Bland-Altman comparisons of differences with multiple measurements. Core temperatures obtained with the TTP in adults showed a mean bias of -0.04 °C with 95% limits of agreement within - 0.99 °C to + 0.91 °C compared to an esophageal temperature probe. We consider the TTP as a reasonable tool for perioperative temperature monitoring. It is not accurate enough to be used as a reference method in scientific studies, but may be a useful tool especially for conscious patients undergoing neuraxial anesthesia or regional anesthesia with sedation. Trial registration This study was registered in the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS-ID: 00024050), day of registration 12/01/2021.

Short interruptions between pre-warming and intraoperative warming are associated with low intraoperative hypothermia rates.

BACKGROUND: Prevention of inadvertent hypothermia is recommended for procedures >30 minutes because hypothermia increases the risk of myocardial ischemia, intraoperative blood loss, transfusion and wound complications. Therefore, short warming interruptions between pre-warming and intraoperative warming might result in lower hypothermia rates. The aim of this retrospective investigation was to determine whether the incidence of inadvertent intraoperative hypothermia was affected by the warming interruption. METHODS: The lowest intraoperative body core temperature value and the warming interruption time were taken from anaesthesia records. Body core temperature was recorded continuously, and a patient was classified to be hypothermic if the lowest recorded temperature value was <36°C. Hypothermia rates and the correlation between warming interruption times and intraoperative hypothermia rates were calculated. RESULTS: Five thousand eighty-four patients were analysed. The intraoperative hypothermia rate was 15.3%. Nineteen patients (0.4%) had a recorded temperature of <35.0°C. An increase in forced-air warming interruption time was significantly associated with an increase in intraoperative hypothermia rates (P < .0001). Patients with interruptions in forced-air warming >20 minutes showed significantly higher hypothermia rates than those with interruptions of ≤20 minutes (P < .0001). CONCLUSION: Intraoperative hypothermia rates increased significantly with longer forced-air warming interruptions between pre-warming and intraoperative warming. Short warming interruptions can preserve the effect of pre-warming and are associated with low intraoperative hypothermia rates.