Correlation Between Esophageal Temperature and Skin Temperature in Trauma Patients

Hypothermia is known to be one of the factors that increase mortality rate in trauma patients. Therefore it is important to measure and manage the core temperature in trauma patients.

Esophageal temperature is common method to measure core temperature in patients undergoing surgery under general anesthesia. However, it is not applicable in patients who have not been intubated or in patients with suspected esophageal damage. In addition, esophageal temperature probe is twisted in the mouth and does not reflect core temperature properly.

3M™ Bair Hugger™ temperature monitoring system was developed to measure the core temperature by attaching to the skin using zero heat flow mechanism. It is simple to apply, and available at the trauma scene.

Previous studies have reported that skin core temperature reflects core temperature well, but no studies have been conducted on trauma patients with rapid changes in the core temperature and poor perfusion state.

This retrospective data-based study investigate the medical records of trauma patients who underwent emergency surgery. Patients who applied two temperature measurements at the same time were targeted. Since this center has the system that automatically transfer the hemodynamic data of the monitor to the anesthesia record, the investigators use the anesthesia records.

Inclusion criteria

• Trauma patients who underwent emergency surgery from January 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021
• Who applied both a esophageal thermometer and a 3M™ Bair Hugger™ temperature monitoring system at the same time

Exclusion criteria

• When more than half of the data is missing