Comparison between forced-air and air-free warming on perioperative hypothermia in patients undergoing elective surgery

[2] Active warming for >30 min during the surgical procedure has been found to reduce the risk of perioperative hypothermia. [...]more and more attention has been paid to how effectively prevent perioperative hypothermia, and many intraoperative active warming strategies have therefore been applied in clinical practice, such as forced-air warming technology, prewarming technology before anesthesia, resistive-polymer system, circulating water mattresses, and self-warming blanket. [5] Nevertheless, the comparative efficacy and safety between convective warming (eg, forced-air warming) and conductive warming (eg, air-free warming) in preventing postoperative hypothermia, surgical site infection, and other clinical outcomes have not yet been systematically investigated among patients undergoing elective surgery. [...]this meta-analysis was conducted to objectively examine the comparative efficacy and safety of forced-air and air-free warming systems among patients undergoing selective surgery. The pooled result was shown in Figure 1. [...]qualitative analysis suggested no statistical difference between both warming systems in surgical site infection during a surgical procedure. [...]our systematic review demonstrates that a forced-air warming system is superior to air-free warming system because it effectively decreases the incidence of hypothermia and accelerates the recovery of postoperative core temperature in patients undergoing elective surgery.