RE: Operating table temp

apache — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 16:11:04 GMT

I wrote a nice long reply yesterday, and had to leave my computer before I sent it.

You are over - simplifying a complex issue. Patient size, coat, age, breed, body condition, type of surgery, duration of surgery, open abdomen, fluids (IV and into cavities), ambient temperature will all have an effect. I'd start pre-warming at just above body temp (40) and then keep monitoring animals temp and adjust accordingly.

I feel that if your table setting is creeping right up then you need to ask other questions about how you can manage heat loss (cover feet, warm fluids, warm room, speed of surgery) etc. Rather than a means of warming the patient, I tend to think of a heated table top as a means of not laying on cold steel and lose a lot of heat to the table.