Postanesthetic vasoconstriction slows peripheral-to-core transfer of cutaneous heat, thereby isolating the core thermal compartment

Abstract

Forced-air warming during anesthesia increases core temperature comparably with and without thermoregulatory vasoconstriction. In contrast, postoperative forced-air warming may be no more effective than passive insulation. Nonthermoregulatory anesthesia-induced vasodilation may thus influence heat transfer. We compared postanesthetic core rewarming rates in volunteers given cotton blankets or forced air. Additionally, we compared increases in peripheral and core heat contents in the postanesthetic period with data previously acquired during anesthesia to determine how much vasomotion alters intercompartmental heat transfer. Six men were anesthetized and cooled passively until their core temperatures reached 34 degrees C. Anesthesia was then discontinued, and shivering was prevented by giving meperidine. On one day, the volunteers were covered with warmed blankets for 2 h; on the other, volunteers were warmed with forced air. Peripheral tissue heat contents were determined from intramuscular and skin thermocouples. Predicted changes in core temperature were calculated assuming that increases in body heat content were evenly distributed. Predicted changes were thus those that would be expected if vasomotor activity did not impair peripheral-to-core transfer of applied heat. These results were compared with those obtained previously in a similar study of anesthetized volunteers. Body heat content increased 159 +/- 35 kcal (mean +/- SD) more during forced-air than during blanket warming (P < 0.001). Both peripheral and core temperatures increased significantly faster during active warming: 3.3 +/- 0.7 degrees C and 1.1 +/- 0.4 degrees C, respectively. Nonetheless, predicted core temperature increase during forced-air warming exceeded the actual temperature increase by 0.8 +/- 0.3 degree C (P < 0.001). Vasoconstriction thus isolated core tissues from heat applied to the periphery, with the result that core heat content increased 32 +/- 12 kcal less than expected after 2 h of forced-air warming (P < 0.001). In contrast, predicted and actual core temperatures differed only slightly in the anesthetized volunteers previously studied. In contrast to four previous studies, our results indicate that forced-air warming increases core temperature faster than warm blankets. Postanesthetic vasoconstriction nonetheless impeded peripheral-to-core heat transfer, with the result that core temperatures in the two groups differed less than might be expected based on systemic heat balance estimates.

Implications: Comparing intercompartmental heat flow in our previous and current studies suggests that anesthetic-induced vasodilation influences intercompartmental heat transfer and distribution of body heat more than thermoregulatory shunt vasomotion.