Hypothermia, shivering, and dexmedetomidine.

CC Postoperative temperature is increasingly used to indicate the quality of anesthesia. Anesthesiologists should measure and record the body temperature of their patients perioperatively and maintain it within normal limits. Hypothermia is usually defined as a body temperature less than 36 o C and occurs commonly during surgery [1]. Although hypothermia can be protective during cerebral or cardiac ischemia, unintentional perioperative hypothermia is associated with an increased mortality rate. To prevent hypothermia during surgery, several methods are used. In this issue of the Korean Journal of Anesthesiology, Kim et al. [2] compared the effect of a forced-air warming system and circulating-water mattress on core temperature and the inci dence of postanesthesia shivering in elderly patients. They found that the changes in core temperature over time did not differ be tween the two types of warming device. However, the incidence of postanesthesia shivering was different (13.0 vs 43.5%). The forced-air warming system is more effective in terms of reducing the incidence of postanesthesia shivering. Here, we postulate that the cause of postanesthesia shivering is not confined to hy pothermia. De Witte et al. [3] evaluated the efficacy of resistiveheating or forced air warming versus no prewarming, applied before inducing anesthesia, and recommended that prewarming before the induction of anesthesia should be considered as part ofanesthetic management.