Comparison between General and Spinal Anesthesia for Changes of Core and Peripheral Body Temperature in Leg Surgery

Introduction: The temperature changes in general and spinal anesthesia is still controversial and in this study is compared hypothermia in both groups.

Materials and Methods: In this double-blinded clinical trial, 60 patients under goinglegsurgery were divided into two groups. The peripheral, front alandtympanic membrane temperature was measured before the induction and every half an hour until the recovery in the spinal and general groups. The data were evaluated by SPSS v.16 and p<0.5 was considered significant.

Result: The demographic data was not significantly different between thetwo groups. The prevalence of hypothermia in general and spinal anesthesia was 76.7% and 60%, respectively. The frontal temperature was significantly different between the two groups only at first 30 min (p=0.02). The core temperature was significantly different after the first hour until recovery between the two groups (p-value was 0.03, 0.04,and0.03at60 min, 90 min, and recovery, respectively) and there was more reduction in general anesthesia (2.7°Ccompared with 2.2°C). No relationship was observed between age, weight, and ambient with frontal, and core temperature. Shiveringin general and spinal anesthesia was 46.6%and 13.3%, respectively, which was not statistically different in spite of the clinical difference (p=0.253).

Final conclusion: Hypothermia was higher in general anesthesia after the first hour, which necessitated the need for monitoring of core temperature in the orthopedic surgeries lasting for more than half an hour. No significant relationship was observed between ambient and core temperature, but ambient changes were not too high in our study.

Keywords: Hypothermia; General anesthesia; Spinal anesthesia