Managing Hypothermia in the Anaesthetic Patient

Inadvertent perioperative hypothermia is a relatively common occurrence with both general and regional anesthesia and can have significant adverse impact on patients’ outcome1,2. While guidelines for perioperative temperature management have been proposed, there are no specific guidelines regarding the best site or best modality of temperature monitoring and management intraoperatively. Almost all our small animal patients will develop hypothermia under anaesthesia,3,4. One study of 1525 dogs showed that 83.6% presented with hypothermia3. Another study in cats found that 96.7% of cats suffered hypothermia whilst under anaesthesia4. Hypothermia can have devastating effects for our patients. It can affect the cardiovascular system, depressing heart conductivity, which lowers heart rate and cardiac output that in turn leads to a decrease in arterial blood pressure. Patients that are cold are also at a greater risk of developing cardiac arrhythmias, prolonged blood clotting times, and hypoventilation5.