Ambient operating room temperature: mother, baby or surgeon?

Editor —We thank Siedentopf1 for raising an important point regarding ambient operating theatre temperature and its potential influence upon maternal and neonatal hypothermia during and after Caesarean delivery. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a delivery room temperature of 25 –28 °C to reduce the incidence of neonatal hypothermia.2 These guidelines do not, however, specifically recommend ideal operating theatre ambient temperatures nor the optimal temperature required to prevent maternal hypothermia. A recently published study by Duryea and colleagues3 specifically explored the impact of operating theatre temperature on maternal and neonatal outcomes. The authors performed a cluster randomization schedule to either 20 °C (standard operating room ambient temperature) or 23 °C (maximum ambient temperature allowed by hospital policy). Results from 791 mothers (and 825 neonates) undergoing elective or emergency Caesarean delivery under either regional or general anaesthesia demonstrated a significantly lower inci dence of mild (<36.5  °C) and moderate-to-severe neonatal hypothermia (<36  °C) when ambient operating theatre temperature was 23 °C, with concomitant use of warmed fluids in all parturients. Although neonatal morbidity did not differ between groups, the study was not powered to detect such differences. Maternal hypothermia on arrival to the postoperative care area w as only modestly reduced with increased operating theatre tempe...
Source: British Journal of Anaesthesia - Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: research