Your next patient is a 65-year-old man with hypertension undergoing a laparoscopic ventral hernia repair. You warm him in the preoperative area and actively maintain his core temperature at 37°C intraoperatively. According to a recent study, compared to a similar patient who receives routine thermal management with a core temperature maintained at 35.5°C, which of the following outcomes is MOST likely in your patient within 30 days?
Previous studies have shown intraoperative hypothermia predisposes patients to various complications and poorer outcomes. Hypothermia is considered a contributor to myocardial dysfunction and injury because it can cause vasoconstriction, elevate systemic resistance, increase blood pressure and heart rate, and cause discomfort and shivering, which may result in an imbalance between blood supply and oxygen consumption in the heart. A recent multicenter superiority trial with parallel groups proposed that major cardiac adverse events would be greatly reduced by aggressive preoperative and intraoperative patient warming....
