The management of temperature during hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass: I--Canadian survey

During hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) patients are cooled, usually to between 30-32 degrees C, and, after myocardial blood flow is restored, they are rewarmed with blood heated in the pump-oxygenator. We audited our local practice by recording tympanic and nasopharyngeal temperatures in 11 patients undergoing hypothermic CPB. We found that, during rewarming, nasopharyngeal and tympanic temperatures commonly exceeded 38 degrees C although temperature measured in the bladder was < 37 degrees C. A survey of cardiac surgery centres in Canada suggested that most centres induce hyperthermia in highly perfused tissues during rewarming, sometimes inadvertently. This may be of some importance because it has become widely appreciated by neuroscientists that mild degrees of brain cooling (2-5 degrees C) are capable of conferring dramatic protection from ischaemic brain injury and, conversely, mild temperature elevation may be markedly deleterious. If control of brain temperature is considered desirable then we would suggest that nasopharyngeal temperature be monitored during rewarming on CPB.