Comparison Study of Intraoperative Patient Warming Systems

Intraoperative Warming: Comparison of Performance of the Dynatherm Medical vitalHEAT Temperature Management System(vH2)With the Arizant Bair Hugger System

Medications used to put people to sleep during surgical procedures also cause changes in the body's ability to control its temperature. These changes can make a person's temperature drop below normal. To minimize this drop in body temperature, different types of body warming products are used during surgery. This study is designed to compare the the temperatures of people under general anesthesia after 60 minutes of warming with each product. The study hypothesis is that the people warmed with the Dynatherm Medical vitalHEAT vH2 System will decrease less in the first 60 minutes of warming time than people warmed with the Arizant Bair Hugger System.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Pts undergoing orthopedic surgical procedure with expected duration 2-3 hrs
• General anesthesia required
• ASA physical status I-III

Exclusion Criteria:

• General anesthesia plus epidural anesthesia required
• Skin abrasions/trauma to extremity selected as application site
• History of peripheral vascular disease
• History of malignant hyperthermia
• Unwilling/unable to give consent