Determining the effectiveness of air-forced warming blankets in sustaining body temperature during surgery: A randomized controlled study

Background and Aim: This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the forced-air warming blankets in maintaining the intraoperative body temperature. Material and Methods: The study was carried out in the form of a randomized controlled trial with the participation of 84 patients (42 treatment group and 42 controls) who had rhinoplasty procedure in a planned manner at Operating Theater, Otorhinolaryngology and Plastic Surgery Inpatient Units of a training and research hospital between 01.01.2023 and 01.10.2023. "Patient Presentation Form" and "Patient Monitoring Form" were used as data collection tools. Individual, institutional and ethical committee approvals were obtained. Forced-air warming blanket was used for treatment group and sterile surgical covers for control group. In analyzing the data, Kolmogorov- Smirnov, Shapiro Wilk, Mann Whitney U, Independent two samples t-test, Friedman, Dunn, Bonferroni and Pearson's chi-square test, Repeated measures analysis and Yates' correction were used as well as the descriptive statistics. Results were found to be within a confidence interval of 95% while statistical significance was below 0,05 (p<0,05). Results: It was determined that 62,2% of the patients (n=54) were female while 63,1% (n=53) and 36,9% (n=31) were in-patient in the Otorhinolaryngological Inpatient Unit and Plastic Surgery Inpatient Unit, respectively. The body temperature monitorization and tympanic measure results of the trial group were found to be higher than measure results of the control group, as taken in recovery room (p<0,001). It was found that the body temperature of the patients of treatment group was maintained within normal range for about 180'th minute and that of the patients of control group were within normal range for about 90'th minute. Conclusion: In conclusion, the air-forced warming blankets were determined to be effective in maintaining intraoperative body temperature of the patients who had rhinoplasty. We recommend the use of air-forced warming blankets for maintaining the body temperature in the patients in who rhinoplasty is performed. Keywords: rhinoplasty, intraoperative, air-forced warming blanket.