Prevention of Hypothermia During Caesarean Section: Continuous Core Temperature Monitoring With Zero-heat-flux
Prevention of Hypothermia During Caesarean Section: Continuous Core Temperature Monitoring With Zero-heat-flux
Nowadays, caesarean sections account for about 7% of all surgical procedures worldwide. Over
 30% of the patients undergoing a caesarean section experience a fall of the body core
 temperature under 36°C during the procedure. Following a retrospective case-control design,
 this study aims to examine the magnitude of hypothermia in the parturient and newborn
 population as well as the impact and efficiency of forced-air warming on preventing it. The
 researchers plan to conduct a before-and-after retrospective analysis of the caesarean
 section treatment protocol at our institution over a period of 5 months including
 approximately 300 patients who underwent both elective and emergency caesarean sections.
This research seeks to address the necessity of standardizing the use of forced-air warming
 and monitoring the maternal temperature during caesarean sections. We will also examine the
 impact of the maternal hypothermia on the newborn temperatures at the time of partus and also
 2 hours after birth. The key research question of this study is whether the use of forced-air
 warming will significantly lower the hypothermia rates and account for a faster temperature
 recovery in our parturient patients.

 A major contribution of our research is that it provides modern high-resolution, continuous
 and user-error free thermometry. This is achieved through zero-heat-flux technology and
 automatically recorded by data-loggers. Also, the heterogeneity of our study population,
 which has not been attended in previous studies, corresponds to the clinical reality of the
 most obstetric clinics.

 This research could provide new information about the necessity of standardizing the use of
 forced-air warming and monitoring the maternal temperature during caesarean sections, in the
 concept of bonding the babies to the mother's chest immediately after birth, and derive
 practical implications on the efficiency of intraoperative warming for the standard clinical
 routine of the majority of the obstetric clinics.
Inclusion Criteria:

 Included will be all Caesarean section deliveries under spinal anaesthesia at our facility
 in the period from 01.04.2019 to 31.08.2019

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  different anaesthesia procedure (e.g. intubation anaesthesia, peridural anaesthesia
 etc.),

 -  American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Classification III or higher,

 -  BMI( Body mass index) >45 kg·m-2,

 -  patients with incomplete documentation,

 -  estimated perioperative blood loss > 500ml,

 -  other perioperative complications (ex. insufficient analgesia and change of
 anaesthesia procedure).