Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find out whether the temperature level following heart and great vessel surgery is greater following the use of the heart-lung machine than those following closed heart surgery or cardiac and great vessel surgery with the use of hypothermia.

The method used was the descriptive survey. Data were obtained from medical records in one selected hospital. The desired number of charts was 50 for each of the three categories. The categories were identified by groups as follows:

Group I: patients having had cardiac surgery by a closed heart technique. All of the patients in this group were valvulotomy cases;

Group II: patients having had heart or great vessel surgery with the use of the heart-lung machine; and

Group III: patients having had heart or great vessel surgery with hypothermia employed as the adjuvant to surgery.

There were 50 cases available in the first two categories and 29 in the third.

There was a wide range of ages in these groups and the mean ages were widely different. Group I had a mean age of 42 years. In Group II the mean age was 28.8 years and in Group III it was 15.6 years. Because of these differences, it was not possible to compare the groups by ages.

It was found that 74 per cent of the patients were women. This is consistent with the common belief that more heart defects are found in women. Because of the ratio of men and women in this study, it was felt that the number of men was inadequate to make a comparison by sexes.

The findings support the hypothesis that the patients having had cardiac and great vessel surgery with total body perfusion develop higher fevers more rapidly and require more antipyretics and cooling measures during the first 24 hours post-operatively than those who have had heart and great vessel surgery without the use of the pump. During the first four hours following return from surgery the hypothermia group had a subnormal temperature of 97.8° F. During that same period the patients in Group II developed a mean temperature of 101.0°; those in Group I had a mean of 99.6°. Group I maintained a fairly constant level, varying only slightly from that temperature. Group II increased during the second four hour interval of time, then decreased with only minute fluctuations. The patients in Group III developed a mean of 100.0° in the second time period, increased by .1° during the third, then decreased to 99.8°, and leveled off during the last eight hours at 99.7°. After the first time period when the hypothermic group showed a temperature elevation, the mean of the means of Group I was 99.6°; the mean of Group II was 100.7° and that of Group III was 99.9° F. The Fisher "t" test revealed that the samples were significantly different.

LLU Discipline

Nursing

Department

Nursing

School

Graduate School

First Advisor

R. Maureen Maxwell

Second Advisor

Lynette Hong

Third Advisor

Ellsworth Wareham

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Level

M.S.

Year Degree Awarded

1963

Date (Title Page)

6-1963

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Heart Surgery; Fever

Type

Thesis

Page Count

viii; 65

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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