Automated closed-loop management of body temperature using forced-air blankets: preliminary feasibility study in a porcine model

Abstract

BackgroundManagement of a patient’s body temperature is an important aspect of care that should be addressed by targeted temperature management (TTM). Often, non-invasive methods like forced-air blankets are used. Especially in the operating room this management may be a subsidiary and repetitive task requiring constant observation of the patient’s body temperature and adaption using the limited set of available settings. Thus, automation of TTM is a feasible target to improve patient outcome and reduce caregiver workload.MethodsA Philips IntelliVue MP 50 patient monitor with an arterial PiCCO catheter system was used to measure patient blood temperature. Thermal management was performed with a 3M Bair Hugger 755 warming unit with forced air blankets. The warming unit was extended by a computer interface to allow for remote and automated control. A proposed closed-loop algorithm reads the measured temperature and performs automated control of the 3M Bair Hugger. Evaluation was performed in an experimental intensive care setting for animal studies. Two fully automated trials are compared with two manual and two uncontrolled trials in the same study setting using six female pigs for prolonged observation times of up to 90 hours in each trial.ResultsThe developed system and proposed algorithm allow more precise temperature management by keeping a set target temperature within a range of ± 0.5 °C in 88% of the observation time and within a range of ± 1.0 °C at all times. The proposed algorithm yielded better performance than did manual control or uncontrolled trials. It was able to adapt to individual patient needs as it is more dynamic than look-up table approaches with fixed settings for various temperatures.ConclusionsClosed-loop TTM using non-invasive forced-air warming blankets was successfully tested in a porcine study with the proposed hardware interface and control algorithm. This automation can be beneficial for patient outcome and can reduce caregiver workload and patient risk in clinical settings. As temperature readings are most often available, existing devices like the 3M Bair Hugger can easily be expanded. However, even if clinical application is feasible, open questions regarding approval and certification of such automated systems within the current legal situation still need to be answered.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12871-018-0542-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Prevenção da hipotermia no período intraoperatório: estudo survey

“…Além das complicações mencionadas, a hipotermia reduz a cicatrização tecidual, aumenta a solubilidade dos gases anestésicos na corrente sanguínea, prolonga o efeito dos anestésicos no organismo e o tempo de permanência hospitalar (YI et al, 2017;RUETZLER;KURZ, 2018). Alguns medicamentos, como os relaxantes musculares, na presença de hipotermia, têm aumento da duração de ação no organismo, por exemplo, o vecurônio tem ação dobrada e o atracúrio prolongamento de ação em 60% (SESSLER, 2016;GIULIANO;HENDRICKS, 2017;LAURONEN et al, 2017;EPSTEIN et al, 2018;PETER et al, 2018), bem como risco Introdução de débito cardíaco mórbido, isquemia miocárdica e alterações na concentração sérica de potássio (GRANUM et al, 2019).…”