Hypothermia a Threat to Hip Surgery

Keep those patients warm. A Henry Ford Hospital study, reported by EurekAlert!, finds that hypothermia, an unintentional occurrence during surgery, is associated with an increased risk of infection in patients who undergo surgery to repair a hip fracture.

Hypothermia is defined as a core body temperature less than 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit. This can take place during surgery for several reasons including uncovered skin, the action of anesthesia and administering cold fluids either intravenously or to flush body parts.

In what is believed to be the largest patient cohort of orthopedic patients studied for hypothermia and related complications, researchers analyzed data from 1, 525 patients who underwent hip fracture surgery from January 2005 to October 2013.

They found that hypothermia had occurred in 13.2% of the cases, and in 13.6% of cases when a re-warming device was used. Patients in their middle to late 70s and those with a lower body mass index (BMI) appeared to be more at risk for hypothermia. The chances of deep surgical site infections were 3.3 times higher in patients who developed hypothermia than in those who did not.

According to the EurekAlert! author, Craig Silverton, M.D., a Henry Ford Hospital orthopedic surgeon and the study’s senior author, says the association between hypothermia, advancing age and BMI and post-surgery infections are new, sobering risk factors of which physicians need to be aware.

“We know that anesthesia can profoundly affect the body’s ability to maintain its internal temperature, ” Silverton said. “What this study demonstrates is that orthopedic patients in their 70s and those with low body mass further compound the body to regulate its temperature.”