Core temperature monitoring during cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia: a quality improvement descriptive study.

Aim: To analyze intraoperative temperature change over time following spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery using temperature enabled Foley catheters. Materials & methods: 512 records of women who underwent scheduled cesarean deliveries were retrospectively identified from January 1, 2018 through September 9, 2018 using our anesthesia information management system.

Results

Median minimum temperature at min 1 following foley insertion was 35.24°C (interquartile range: 1.43), with an average of 12 minutes until temperature equilibration at median maximum temperature of 36.54°C (interquartile range 0.39). Temperature dropped to a nadir of 35.9°C at the 45 min mark, reflecting an average 0.64°C decline in temperature.

Conclusion

Bladder temperature is a useful surrogate for core temperature and offers a practical solution to continuous temperature monitoring in awake patients.