Control of body temperature during abdominal aortic surgery

Background. Careful control of body temperature during anesthesia aims to prevent cardiocirculatory complications during the phase of recovery from anesthesia. Numerous studies have examined methods for warming the gases breathed by the patient, but the question of whether low flow anesthesia or heat and moisture exchangers can also influence the pattern of body temperature remains unresolved.
Methods. In this clinical trial we evaluated the mean body temperature profile measured at five points in 40 patients divided into two groups: Group I was ventilated with a non-rebreathing circuit and Group II was ventilated with a circle system using low flow rates of fresh gases. All patients were treated with a hydrophobic heat moisture exchanger.
Results. The results point out a significantly ( P < 0.01) lower decrease in mean body temperature 40 min after the start of mechanical ventilation with the use of low flow rate anesthesia.
Conclusions. This study shows that anesthesia carried out using low fresh gas flow rates and heat moisture exchanger is able to reduce the fall in mean body temperature, when compared with anesthesia carried out using high fresh gas flow rates and heat moisture exchanger.