N1033787
room temperature of the MRI suite has direct influence on the body temperature of anaesthetised veterinary patients, with a high potential to cause hypothermia in these patients. There are additional considerations that may also explain the correlation between a decrease in body temperature and the MRI suite. In the current study, patients were induced and anaesthetised, then once at an appropriate plane of anaesthesia, moved to the MRI suite, which on average was around 20 minutes from induction. Hypothermia develops in 3 phases, and it is known that during the first hour of anaesthesia, core body temperatures decrease by 1 ° C – 1.5 ° C due to the redistribution of core heat to the body surfaces( Aarnes et al, 2017). The author hypothesised that moving patients to the MRI suite and them remaining in the room during their first hour of anaesthesia would have resulted in a more substantial decrease in body temperature. Interestingly, the average decrease in body temperature in the current study was 1.3 ° C, however, to truly confirm if the length of time the patient had been under anaesthesia when moved to the MRI suite influences the decreases in body temperature, further research would be required. Another possible explanation for this correlation could be that due to the magnetic field of the MRI unit, active warming devices such as heat mats and forced warm-air blankets are unable to be used. It is known that the use of these devices does aid in limiting heat loss in anaesthetised dogs( Clark-Price et al, 2013), and so the inability to use them will make it more difficult to preserve patients body temperature.
5.6 Impact on practice and local team The results of this study highlight that dogs anaesthetised for MRI investigations do undergo temperature changes during the procedure, most likely decreases. Veterinary nurses monitoring the anaesthetic of future patients can therefore assume, in most cases, that their patient’ s body temperature will decrease, and can implement necessary steps to try minimise this as much as possible.
ANIM32126 – EBVN Project 31