N1033787
Abstract
Introduction Veterinary patients often require anaesthesia to undergo investigative procedures such as advanced diagnostic imaging, for example magnetic resonance imaging( MRI). The use of MRI is generally considered the best imaging modality for diseases affecting the spine and the brain( Dennis, 2011) and is becoming more widely available as a diagnostic tool in veterinary medicine( Smith, 2016). Anaesthesia or heavy sedation is considered necessary during the scan to achieve the immobilisation necessary to gain optimal diagnostic quality images and to minimise patient response to the noise of the machine and positioning required( Smith, 2016).
Background and Aim A very common complication during anaesthesia, occurring in approximately 40 % of anaesthetised animals, is hypothermia( Onozawa et al, 2021). To diagnose many neurological disorders MRI investigations are necessary, and it is especially common for hypothermia to occur in these patients( Shimizu et al, 2022; Clark-Price et al, 2021; Onozawa et al, 2021; Degan et al, 2019; Bruniges and Rioja, 2019; Khenissi et al, 2017). The aims of this study were to investigate the effects undergoing MRI investigations has on the body temperature of anaesthetised dogs, and what the main causes or contributing factors affecting this are.
Materials and Methods The design of this study was a retrospective observational study. Clinical and anaesthetic records of 99 dogs of various breeds admitted to Wear Referrals for neurological investigations involving MRI from August to December 2022 were analysed. Data recorded included breed, sex( and neuter status), body weight and body condition score( BCS), age, presenting problem, recumbency during scan, room temperature of MRI suite, admission body temperature, premedication agent, body temperature before scan, body temperature after scan, heating aid( s) used and time in MRI suite. The correlation between a decrease in body temperature and the patient’ s BCS, age, recumbency during scan, premedication, and length of time in the MRI suite was calculated using either a Spearman’ s rank correlation coefficient test, a one-way ANOVA test or a Kruskal-Wallis test.
ANIM32126 – EBVN Project 3