Skin Temperature Over the Carotid Artery, an Accurate Non-invasive Estimation of Near Core Temperature

Abstract

Background:During anesthesia, continuous body temperature monitoring is essential, especially in children. Anesthesia can increase the risk of loss of body temperature by three to four times. Hypothermia in children results in increased morbidity and mortality. Since the measurement points of the core body temperature are not easily accessible, near core sites, like rectum, are used.Objectives:The purpose of this study was to measure skin temperature over the carotid artery and compare it with the rectum temperature, in order to propose a model for accurate estimation of near core body temperature.Patients and Methods:Totally, 124 patients within the age range of 2 - 6 years, undergoing elective surgery, were selected. Temperature of rectum and skin over the carotid artery was measured. Then, the patients were randomly divided into two groups (each including 62 subjects), namely modeling (MG) and validation groups (VG). First, in the modeling group, the average temperature of the rectum and skin over the carotid artery were measured separately. The appropriate model was determined, according to the significance of the model’s coefficients. The obtained model was used to predict the rectum temperature in the second group (VG group). Correlation of the predicted values with the real values (the measured rectum temperature) in the second group was investigated. Also, the difference in the average values of these two groups was examined in terms of significance.Results:In the modeling group, the average rectum and carotid temperatures were 36.47 ± 0.54°C and 35.45 ± 0.62°C, respectively. The final model was obtained, as follows: Carotid temperature × 0.561 + 16.583 = Rectum temperature. The predicted value was calculated based on the regression model and then compared with the measured rectum value, which showed no significant difference (P = 0.361).Conclusions:The present study was the first research, in which rectum temperature was compared with that of skin over carotid artery, to find a safe location with easier access and higher accuracy for estimating near core body temperature. Results obtained in this study showed that, using a model, it is possible to evaluate near core body temperature in children, by measuring skin temperature over carotid artery.

Correlation of nasopharyngeal temperature with transcutaneous carotid artery temperature of adult patients under general anesthesia in rural tertiary care hospital.

“…Similar studies have been conducted in infants and children where the skin temperature over carotid is comparable with the rectal temperature. 7 In another study, the author concluded that skin temperature over carotid is comparable with nasopharyngeal temperature with correction factor of +0.52° C. 6 Our results are in agreement with the study conducted by Venkatesh et al 8 Since the transcutaneous carotid temperature monitoring is a non-invasive technique with acceptable accuracy in core temperature monitoring this can routinely be used. The problems related to invasive techniques e.g., trauma or cross infection can easily be avoided.…”

Use of noncontact infrared thermography to measure temperature in children in a triage room

“…This was the first study to compare neck IFR and rectal temperatures. [ 20 ] IFR measures on the lateral side of neck the most reliable in children aged 2 to 6 years. However, the study methodology differed from ours; the cited authors used logistic regression analyses to evaluate multivariable data.…”

Myths and methodologies: Degrees of freedom – limitations of infrared thermographic screening for Covid‐19 and other infections

“…Other skin sites have also been reported as potentially promising in the prediction of deep body temperature, such as the skin above the carotid artery (Jay et al 2013;Imani et al 2016). These sites may not be optimal for mass screening, but could provide confirmatory data.…”