Intraoperative body temperature control: esophageal thermometer versus infrared tympanic thermometer

Abstract

Abstract OBJECTIVE To verify the correlation between temperature measurements performed using an infrared tympanic thermometer and an esophageal thermometer during the intraoperative period. METHOD A longitudinal study of repeated measures was performed including subjects aged 18 years or older undergoing elective oncologic surgery of the digestive system, with anesthesia duration of at least 1 hour. Temperature measurements were performed simultaneously by a calibrated esophageal thermometer and by a calibrated infrared tympanic thermometer, with laboratory reading precision of ±0.2ºC. The operating room temperature remained between 19 and 21ºC. RESULTS The study included 51 patients, mostly men (51%), white (80.4%). All patients were kept warm by a forced-air heating system, for an average of 264.14 minutes (SD = 87.7). The two temperature measurements showed no different behavior over time (p = 0.2205), however, tympanic measurements were consistently 1.24°C lower (p<0.0001). CONCLUSION The tympanic thermometer presented reliable results but reflected lower temperatures than the esophageal thermometer.

Keywords

• Hipotermia
• Temperatura Corporal
• Termómetros
• Enfermería Perioperatoria