METHOD
91 patients undergoing  arthroscopic shoulder surgery with an expected duration of 90 minutes participated in this randomized, prospective, two-treatment parallel design trial. They were randomly allocated to either group 1 (Bair Hugger®) or group 2 (Inditherm®). Temperature was measured by nasopharyngeal probe for 90 minutes post induction and results analysed.
RESULTS
Statistically, the demographics and related data were similar between the groups. At start, the mean temperature was similar in both the groups (~36.3ºC). Though the temperature steadily declined in both groups for the first 30 minutes, in Group 1 it plateaued at 30-35 minutes. Beyond that, it steadily increased, reaching a mean of 36.13ºC at 90 minutes. In Group 2, the decline did not plateau and continued all through the 90 minutes with a mean of 35.6ºC at 90 min. The mean temperature of Group 1 was statistically significantly higher than that of Group 2 at all times > 60 min.
CONCLUSION
We conclude that, in the presence of significant intraoperative heat loss, conductor warming devices like Inditherm® failed to prevent or correct hypothermia. In this scenario, forced warm air devices like Bair Hugger® were distinctly superior in maintaining normothermia.


03 / A comparative study of forced air vs conductive polymer warming device in arthroscopic shoulder surgery.